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http://www.archive.org/details/countrychurchcomOOisrarich  ] 


The  Country  Church 

and 

Community  Cooperation 


Edited  by 

HENRY  ISRAEL 

Editor  of  Rural  Manhood 


New  York:     124  East  28th  Street 

London:  47  Paternoster  Row,  E.  C. 

1913 


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'V*  Copyright,  1913,  by 

The  International  Committee  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 


INTRODUCTION 

This  conference  is  the  third  of  a  series 
beginning  with  the  gathering  of  December  i, 
19 10,  the  proceedings  of  which  were  pub- 
lished under  the  title,  "The  Rural  Church 
and  Community  Betterment."  That  certainly 
acted  as  an  appetizer,  and  last  year  the  con- 
ference developed  into  a  somewhat  larger 
and  more  comprehensive  one.  It  was  held 
at  the  International  Committee  Building, 
Thursday,  November  23,  191 1 ;  the  proceed- 
ings were  published  under  the  title,  *'The 
Country  Church  and  Rural  Welfare." 

This  year  it  is  evident  that  the  conference 
has  assumed  even  larger  proportions.  Its 
object  was  to  compare  the  work  of  the  men 
who  labor  and  know  the  problems,  the  men 
who  are  making  special  studies  of  these  prob- 
lems from  the  outside  as  well  as  the  inside 
point  of  view.  The  matter  here  presented  is, 
therefore,  of  real  value  and  includes  papers 
and  some  recommendations  by  a  Commission 
especially  appointed  consisting  of  Professor 
T.  N.  Carver  of  Harvard  University;  Pro- 
fessor  E.   L.   Earp   of   Drew   Theological 


281286 


4  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

Seminary;  Dr.  M.  A.  Honline  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee,  Religious  Work  Depart- 
ment; Mr.  D.  C.  Drew,  State  Secretary  of 
County  Work  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island;  and  Rev.  Charles  O.  Bemies,  pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  McClelland- 
town,  Pennsylvania. 

D.  Hunter  McAlpin.  M.  D. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction         .  3 

I.     Community  Cooperation — The  Coun- 
try School  and  the  Country  Church. 

T.  S.  Settle 7 

II.  Religious  Education  as  a  Factor 
in  Training  for  Country  Life. 
G.  Walter  Fiske 21 

III.  A     Coordinating     Factor.       Henry 

Israel 44 

IV.  Educational  Readjustment  of  Country 

Life.    Mason  S.  Stone      ...       53 
V.     How  a  Whole  Community  Is  Being 

Helped.    Wickliffe  Rose      .      .       60 
VI.     The    Value    of    a    Social    Survey    to 
a     Community.       Hermann     N. 

Morse 67 

VII.     A    Method    of    Making    a    Survey. 

John  Brown,  Jr.,  M.  D.  .     .     .       73 
VIII.     The  New  Rural  South.     James  H. 

DiLLARD 80 

IX.  Religious  and  Educational  Coopera- 
tion with  County  and  State  Fairs. 
A.  C.  HuRD 87 


6  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

X.     Play  a   Socializing  Factor  in   Rural 

Communities.    E.  K.  Jordan  .      .       95 
XI.     The   Moral   and   Educational  Value 

of  Athletics.    H.  D.  Maydole       .     100 
XII.     The  Importance  of  the  Social  Survey. 

T.  N.  Carver 107 

XIII.  The  Need  of  Trained  Leadership  in 

Rural  Life.    Edwin  L.  Earp  .      .     117 

XIV.  Home-made  Leaders.     D.  C.  Drew     131 
XV.     Religious  Education  in  Country  Life. 

M.  A.  HoNLiNE      .      .      .      .      .     142 
XVI.     The    Opportunity    of    the    Country 
Pastor  to  Direct  Social  Enterprises. 
Chas.  O.  Bemies 158 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION— THE 

COUNTRY  SCHOOL  AND  THE 

COUNTRY  CHURCH 

T.  S.  Settle 

State  Supervisor  of  Rural  Elementary 
Schools  of  Virginia 

This  is  an  age  of  cooperation.  It  is  being 
practised  on  every  hand  and  in  all  walks  and 
occupations  of  life.  The  business  world  has 
learned  its  value,  bankers,  merchants,  manu- 
facturers, railroad  magnates  are  practising  it 
as  never  before.  Educational  and  philan- 
thropic movements  are  also  awakening  to  its 
importance.  Every  day  one  sees  striking 
illustrations  of  cooperative  efforts  succeeding 
where  heretofore  individual  endeavor  failed. 

While  cooperation  is  valuable  and  highly 
desirable  in  many  lines  of  business  and  in  the 
various  enterprises  connected  with  city  life, 
it  is  the  first  essential  in  bringing  about  any 
real  development  and  improvement  of  indus- 


'*'  8    .  V  :  ;v'7  T.^^  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

I  y^nii; '  cconomiCy  educational,  social  and  reli- 
gious conditions  of  present  day  American 
country  life.  The  country  is  so  sparsely 
settled,  the  amount  of  revenue  is  so  limited, 
the  number  of  efficient  workers  is  so  small, 
that  unless  all  cooperate  enthusiastically  and 
intelligently  real  progress  cannot  be  attained. 
Nor  are  there  any  two  forces  working  for 
the  country  community's  betterment  between 
which  cooperation  is  so  essential  as  between 
country  school  and  country  church.  The 
country  school  exists  primarily  to  make  good 
citizens,  but  no  one  can  be  a  good  citizen  who 
lacks  the  moral  and  religious  training  that 
the  church  gives.  The  country  church  exists 
primarily  to  give  moral  and  religious  train- 
ing, but  no  church  can  accomplish  satisfactory 
work  without  an  intelligent  and  educated 
membership.  This  educational  training  must 
be  obtained  largely  from  the  country  school. 
If  then  cooperation  is  so  essential  between 
the  country  school,  the  country  church,  and 
all  other  country  betterment  forces,  the  first 
thought  that  comes  to  us  is.  Around  what  can 
these  forces  unite?  What  is  the  logical 
center  of  community  life  and  community 
activity?  In  some  communities  it  is  one  thing 
and  in  other  communities  it  is  another,  but 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION  9 

taking  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  in  a 
great  majority  of  communities  the  logical 
center  is  the  country  school.  If  it  is  not  now 
the  center  of  community  life  it  is  because  the 
possibilities  connected  with  it  have  not  been 
developed.  It  is  the  one  building  owned  by 
all  the  community.  It  is  the  one  place  where 
the  rich  man,  poor  man,  Protestant,  Catholic, 
feel  equally  at  home  and  have  equal  right 
to  be.  It  is  where  the  future  citizens  are 
being  trained  and  where  their  parents  should 
be  learning  how  better  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  present  day  citizenship. 

If  then  the  country  school  is  the  logical 
center  of  country  life,  the  country  school 
plant  should  be  adapted  to  this  broad  use. 
In  Virginia  we  are  including  an  assembly  hall 
in  every  new  school  building,  even  though 
the  school  has  as  few  as  two  teachers.  This 
assembly  hall  is  used  for  almost  every  kind  of 
public  gathering  from  school  exercises  to 
farmers'  meetings  and  political  rallies.  It  is 
where  we  train  the  "grown-ups."  These 
schoolhouses  are  located  on  lots  varying  in 
size  from  two  acres  to  eleven  acres.  These 
large  lots  furnish  a  place  for  play  and 
athletics  for  the  school  children,  for  all  the 
people   of  the   community.      It  is  the   com- 


10  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

munity's  baseball  park,  the  track  field,  picnic 
ground,  play  festival  ground. 

Agreeing  that  the  school  is  the  logical 
center  of  community  life  and  given  a  school 
plant  adapted  to  this  broad  use,  along  what 
lines  can  the  country  school,  the  country 
church,  the  country  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  other  forces  cooperate  in 
building  up  country  life?  There  are  many  of 
them  but  I  will  attempt  to  discuss  only  three ; 
they  are: 

First.     Citizens'  Leagues. 
Second.     Play  and  Athletics. 
Third.     Mountain  Mission  Schools. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  reader 
prefers  hearing  about  something  the  people 
are  doing  or  beginning  to  do  to  mere  theo- 
rizing; that  the  concrete  is  preferable  to  the 
abstract.  I  will  therefore  confine  my  discus- 
sion of  these  three  lines  of  activity  to  what 
we  are  doing  in  my  own  state  of  Virginia. 

Citizens'  Leagues 

We  are  attempting  in  Virginia  to  organize 
in  connection  with  every  country  school  a 
citizens'  league.    By  the  means  of  the  school 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION  11 

machinery,  we  gather  together  all  the  people 
of  the  community  at  the  school  building, 
explain  to  them  that  we  want  to  organize  a 
citizens'  league  whose  object  will  be  "To 
advance  the  social,  civic  and  school  interests 
of  the  community,"  and  invite  all  interested 
in  the  objects  of  the  league  to  become  mem- 
bers. When  the  objects  of  the  league  are 
thus  presented  they  rarely  fail  to  organize. 
Officers  are  elected,  simple  constitution  and 
by-laws  are  adopted  and,  what  is  much  more 
to  the  point,  they  go  to  work. 

One  of  the  first  things  the  league  fre- 
quently does  is  to  clean  up  and  beautify  the 
school  grounds.  It  is  an  inspiring  sight  to 
see  farmers,  merchants,  bankers,  ministers, 
teachers,  gather  on  the  school  grounds  with 
picks,  crowbars,  shovels,  hoes  and  teams,  pull 
off  their  coats  and  go  to  work  shoveling  dirt, 
leveling  ground,  digging  post  holes,  planting 
shade  trees,  setting  out  hedges  and  in  other 
ways  working  to  make  this,  the  one  piece  of 
public  property,  the  most  beautiful  and 
attractive  spot  in  the  community. 

The  league  also  frequently  cooperates  with 
the  school  board  (which  often  has  a  very 
limited  amount  of  money)  in  securing  proper 
furniture  and  other  equipment.     It  presents 


12  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

to  the  school  portraits  of  such  famous  Vir- 
ginians as  Washington,  Jefferson,  Jackson 
and  Lee.  It  nearly  always  buys  a  piano  or 
organ  for  the  school.  There  is  nothing  that 
country  people  appreciate  more  than  music. 

These  leagues  have  placed  libraries  in 
many  of  the  country  schools.  The  library 
contains  books,  not  alone  for  the  children, 
but  also  for  the  grown  people.  Indeed  it  is 
not  merely  a  school  library  but  a  community 
library.  One  room  in  the  school  is  set  aside 
for  its  use.  In  addition  to  books  it  is  supplied 
with  daily  papers,  periodicals  and  leading 
magazines.  The  library  is  kept  open  in  the 
afternoons  and  evenings.  Public  spirited 
citizens  alternate  in  acting  as  librarians.  All 
this  work  is  given  because  the  community 
cannot  afford  a  paid  librarian. 

Another  valuable  thing  the  league  does  for 
the  community  is  to  conduct  a  lyceum  course. 
This  course  includes  lectures  on  health,  given 
by  representatives  from  the  State  Depart- 
ment of  Health  and  by  local  health  de- 
partments and  local  physicians;  lectures  by 
representatives  of  the  State  Department  of 
Education  and  local  educators.  Local  talent 
is  also  utilized  in  these  courses.  Frequently 
outside  paid  lyceum  numbers,  including  high 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION  13 

class  music,  trained  elocutionists  and  high 
grade  comedy  are  a  part  of  the  course. 

The  league  takes  up  many  other  lines  of 
work  such  as  good  roads,  village  sidewalks, 
study  of  better  farming  methods,  literary 
clubs,  etc. 

But  how  does  the  church  cooperate  in  this 
work  ?  The  most  active  members  of  the  vari- 
ous churches  are  usually  the  most  active 
workers  of  the  citizens'  league.  Nearly 
every  minister  of  the  community  is  an  active 
worker  in  the  league  and  frequently  the 
president  of  the  league  is  a  minister.  The 
ministers  assist  in  cleaning  up  the  ground, 
keeping  open  the  community  library,  in 
bringing  the  right  kind  of  lecturers  and  enter- 
tainers to  the  community  and  frequently 
furnish  one  or  more  of  the  lyceum  lectures 
themselves.  Owing  to  their  talent,  training 
and  position,  they  become  the  leaders  of  the 
people  in  this  as  well  as  in  other  work. 

Play  and  Athletics 

Throughout  America,  both  in  the  country 
and  in  the  city,  there  is  being  preached  the 
gospel  of  play  and  athletics.  People  are 
realizing  as  never  before  the  physical,  mental 


14  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

and  moral  training  value  of  play,  provided 
that  the  play  Is  properly  directed.  Virginia 
Is  awakening  to  the  possibilities  of  play.  Our 
country  school  teachers  are  teaching  and 
directing  pupils  In  simple  games  and,  through 
the  school,  they  are  Introducing  suitable 
games  for  the  home.  Playground  equipment 
Is  being  Installed  on  many  country  school 
grounds.  Baseball,  basket  ball,  soccer,  tennis 
and  such  games  are  being  Introduced  and 
enthusiastically  received.  The  athletic  badge 
contests  for  boys  and  girls,  that  have  been  In 
use  In  New  York,  Chicago  and  other  large 
cities,  have  recently  been  adopted  by  the  State 
Department  of  PuWIc  Instruction  for  all  the 
schools  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  both  country 
and  city.  To  Illustrate :  A  boy  in  any  Isolated 
country  school  who  can  chin  the  bar  four 
times,  run  sixty  yards  In  eight  and  three  fifths 
seconds,  do  the  standing  broad  jump  five  feet 
nine  inches,  will  be  presented  by  the  State 
Department  of  Public  Instruction  with  a 
"Class  A"  button.  By  meeting  higher  re- 
quirements he  can  secure  "Class  B"  and 
"Class  C"  buttons. 

But  we  take  a  step  beyond  athletics  for  the 
individual  school.  We  organize  the  schools 
of  a  county  into  a  County  Athletic  League. 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION  15 

A  baseball  tournament  is  arranged  for  the 
boys,  a  basket  ball  tournament  for  the  girls. 
The  rivalry  between  the  different  schools  is 
usually  very  keen.  An  outsider  would  think 
that  a  "World's  Series"  was  being  played. 
A  track  and  field  meet  is  held  in  the  spring 
and  to  this  meet  each  school  sends  its  best 
runners,  jumpers,  pole  vaulters,  shot  putters, 
etc. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  introduce  these  games 
and  athletic  contests.  Children  enjoy  them 
and  respond  readily.  It  is,  however,  often 
difficult  to  have  them  conducted  properly,  to 
find  people  in  a  country  community,  who  are 
trained  in  athletics  and  understand  how  to 
conduct  such  contests.  It  is  in  this  capacity 
that  the  country  preacher,  the  country  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  worker,  can  render  and  often  does 
render  the  most  valuable  cooperative  ser- 
vice. Frequently  our  country  ministers 
umpire  the  baseball  and  basket  ball  games. 
I  recall  one  instance  where  a  Methodist 
minister  was  umpiring  a  game  and  darkness 
coming  on,  the  score  a  tie,  he  tossed  a  quarter 
to  decide  the  winner.  In  another  community 
the  Presbyterian  minister  has  trained  the  high 
school  track  team  that  has  won  the  county 
championship  for  several  years.     In  another 


16  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

county  where  we  have  recently  organized  such 
a  league,  the  county  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary 
was  made  a  member  of  the  executive  commit- 
tee and  he  will  do  much  to  train  the  teams  and 
conduct  the  meets.  This  is  a  fine  illustration 
of  cooperation  between  religious  workers 
and  the  school.  He  finds  this  an  excellent 
means  of  connecting  himself  with  the  life  of 
the  county.  We  have  7,000  school  children 
to  be  trained  and  directed  and  he  is  a  potent 
factor  in  this  work. 

Mountain  Mission  Schools 

Another  most  valuable  line  of  cooperation 
for  country  school,  country  church  and  the 
Home  Mission  Board  is  the  Mountain  Mis- 
sion School.  Allow  me  to  illustrate  what  I 
mean  by  describing  a  school  and  community 
that  I  visited  and  studied  last  summer.  In 
Rockbridge  County,  situated  in  an  isolated 
hollow  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  is  a 
settlement,  eight  miles  from  the  railroad, 
known  as  "Irish  Creek."  Rockbridge  County 
is  one  of  our  richest  counties  and  boasts  of 
more  blue  blood  than  perhaps  any  other 
county  of  the  state.  Located  at  its  county 
seat  are  two  noted  higher  institutions  of 
learning,    Virginia    Military    Institute    and 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION  17 

Washington  and  Lee  University.  But  none 
of  the  professors  of  these  institutions  or  the 
*'blue  bloods"  had  ever  attempted  to  carry 
the  light  of  civilization  to  Irish  Creek.  It 
was  considered  a  very  dangerous  community 
to  visit.  Rumor  has  it  that  many  people  have 
been  killed  there  in  times  past. 

The  inhabitants  have  cleared  small  patches 
of  ground  on  the  mountain  sides  and  live  by 
farming  them  and  by  lumbering.  Their 
homes  are  for  the  most  part  wretched  huts. 
I  visited  one  such  home  in  which  two  families 
lived.  One  family  had  four  children  and  the 
other  five  and  these  thirteen  people  were 
living  in  a  hut  eighteen  by  twenty-two  feet 
containing  only  one  room;  not  even  a  cur- 
tain was  used  to  separate  one  family's  domain 
from  the  other.  The  other  homes  were  not 
so  crowded,  but  the  houses  were  on  a  par  with 
this  one. 

Although  a  little  one-room  schoolhouse 
had  been  erected  in  that  community  years  ago, 
no  school  had  been  conducted  there  for  the 
past  six  years.  It  had  been  impossible  for 
the  school  board  to  induce  teachers  to  take 
this  school.  Last  session  the  board  offered 
this  school  to  twenty-one  different  teachers 
but   every   one    refused.      You   can   readily 


IS  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

understand  that  a  trained  teacher  who  could 
get  a  position  elsewhere  would  not  care  to 
live  in  this  isolated  community,  board  at  one 
of  these  miserable  huts,  associate  constantly 
with  people,  the  majority  of  whom  are  illit- 
erate and  only  one  of  whom  could  boast  of 
having  traveled  as  far  on  the  road  of  learn- 
ing as  the  mile  post  of  ''common  fractions." 
Nothing  but  the  genuine  missionary  spirit 
could  compel  one  to  take  such  a  position. 

But  the  people  continued  to  implore  the 
school  authorities  to  send  them  teachers.  So 
they  decided  last  spring  to  attempt  to  conduct 
a  summer  school.  Two  of  the  best  teachers 
of  the  county  volunteered  to  undertake  the 
work.  Taking  along  a  twelve-year-old  boy 
for  assistance  and  protection,  they  went  into 
this  mountain  hollow,  carrying  their  tents, 
provisions  and  cooking  utensils  with  them. 
You  can  readily  imagine  the  hardships  they 
underwent.  Think  of  housekeeping  eight 
miles  from  the  base  of  supplies  and  with  no 
telephone,  no  deliveries,  no  buggies  and  only 
occasional  communications  from  the  outside 
world. 

But  they  endured  these  hardships  and  went 
earnestly  to  work.  Soon  they  had  a  school 
of  sixty-five  pupils,  varying  in  age  from  seven 


COMMUNITY  COOPERATION  19 

to  twenty-one.  The  great  majority  were  in 
the  primer,  none  were  beyond  the  fourth 
reader.  A  class  for  grown  people  was 
also  organized  and  every  Wednesday  and 
Saturday  afternoon  twenty-five  illiterate  but 
earnest  mountaineers,  both  men  and  women, 
learned  to  read  and  write.  In  this  class  was 
a  grandmother  of  seventy-five  studying  the 
same  primer  and  the  same  lessons  as  her 
granddaughter  of  eight. 

When  my  co-worker,  Mr.  J.  H.  Binford, 
and  I  visited  this  community  we  organized  a 
citizens'  league,  a  debating  society,  gave  a 
series  of  stereopticon  lectures,  had  an  old 
time  spelling  bee  and  held  an  athletic  meet. 

We  had  not  been  working  in  this  com- 
munity long,  however,  before  we  found  that 
the  people  needed  religious  training;  that  in 
order  to  make  a  success  of  our  work  and  to 
really  elevate  the  tone  of  the  community  it 
was  necessary  to  have  the  cooperation  of  the 
church.  As  this  is  a  Presbyterian  county,  a 
Presbyterian  minister  came  there  and  held  a 
series  of  meetings.  He  brought  with  him  an 
especially  talented  worker,  a  ministerial  stu- 
dent of  twenty  years  of  age,  who  pitched  his 
tent  near  that  of  the  teachers,  boarded  with 
them  and  cooperated  with  them  in  the  com- 


20  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

munlty  betterment  work.  He  and  they  organ- 
ized a  Sunday-school,  taught  the  people  songs 
and  hymns.  He  preached  every  Sunday.  He 
also  built  a  dam  across  a  small  mountain 
creek  and  made  a  large  swimming  pool  in 
which  many  of  the  natives  learned  for  the 
first  time  the  joys  of  taking  a  weekly  bath. 
He  was  a  great  aid  to  the  teachers  and  but 
for  him  they  could  not  have  remained  and 
continued  their  work. 

I  frankly  admit  that  without  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  church  our  attempt  at  a  school 
would  have  proven  a  failure.  But  I  also 
claim  that  without  the  school,  church  work  in 
such  a  community  would  prove  a  failure. 
How  could  a  church  prove  a  success  with  such 
an  illiterate  membership? 

The  State  Department  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion is  making  a  survey  of  the  mountain 
sections  of  Virginia  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
ducting many  such  schools  as  the  one  at  Irish 
Creek.  But  our  minds  are  made  up  upon  one 
thing — we  will  not  attempt  to  conduct  such  a 
school  in  any  community  where  we  cannot  get 
the  cooperation  of  the  logical  religious 
denomination.  In  some  communities  it  will 
be  one  denomination  and  in  other  communi- 
ties it  will  be  another. 


II 


RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION    AS   A 

FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  FOR 

COUNTRY  LIFE 

G.  Walter  Fiske 
Junior  Dean,  Oberlin  Theological  Seminary 

The  teaching  function  of  the  church;  the 
opportunity  of  the  country  Sunday-school; 
fundamental  principles  involved;  specific  aims 
and  a  constructive  policy. 

Invaluable  as  our  public  school  system  is 
as  a  prime  agency  in  training  for  citizen- 
ship and  leadership,  it  has  at  least  two  limi- 
tations which  are  rather  permanent.  We  all 
have  high  hopes  for  the  rural  school.  We 
look  forward  to  the  time  when  it  shall  be 
centralized  in  its  township;  when  it  shall  be 
well  housed  and  equipped,  properly  super- 
vised and  maintained  by  county  or  state  taxa- 
tion instead  of  on  the  niggardly  district 
system.     We  pray   for  the  time  when  the 


22  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

rural  schools  everywhere  shall  have  teachers 
who  love  the  country  and  are  not  eternally 
hankering  for  the  city,  and  giving  the  farm 
boys  and  girls  the  city  fever;  when  the 
country  school  shall  really  train  for  country 
life  and  for  farm  life,  and  shall  utilize  the 
splendid  rural  materials  for  education  that 
are  everywhere  near  at  hand,  and  shall 
develop  a  generation  of  country  lovers  who 
know  how  to  utilize  the  forces  of  country  life. 
But  even  then  the  public  school  is  likely  to 
have  limitations. 

The  public  school  is,  and  doubtless  always 
will  be,  limited  in  its  scope  of  instruction  and 
its  content  of  teaching.  Although  it  must 
increasingly  serve  the  interests  of  the  whole 
community,  only  a  small  portion  of  the  com- 
munity will  at  any  time  be  under  its  direct 
influence;  and  some  of  the  most  important 
subjects  it  dare  not  now,  and  perhaps  never 
will,  teach.  So  long  as  our  public  schools 
teach  only  children  and  confine  their  atten- 
tion to  secular  subjects,  they  will  need  help 
in  this  problem  of  training  for  rural  leader- 
ship and  citizenship.  Foremost  among  these 
institutions  which  share  this  responsibilty  is 
the  church,  particularly  through  its  Sunday- 
schools. 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  23 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  95  per  cent  of 
our  boys  and  girls  the  country  over  never 
reach  the  high  school.  It  is  not  so  generally 
known  that  the  bulk  of  the  pupils  are  in  the 
lowest  grades.  Fully  four-fifths  do  not  reach 
the  seventh  grade;  that  is,  they  leave  school 
before  they  enter  their  teens.  In  the  public 
grade  schools  of  the  city  of  Cleveland  two 
weeks  ago  there  were  only  60,881  children, 
or  one-ninth  of  the  population.  (The  nor- 
mal proportion  of  children  from  five  to  four- 
teen years  inclusive  is  22  per  cent.)  But  of 
this  60,881,  only  15  per  cent  were  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades;  while  61  per  cent 
were  in  grades  from  one  to  four.  Compari- 
son with  last  year's  figures  shows  a  relative 
decline  in  the  higher  grades.  Apparently 
then,  in  one  of  our  cities  of  the  first  class, 
where  educational  standards  are  relatively 
high,  nearly  half  of  the  children  under  fifteen 
are  not  in  the  public  schools  at  all;  and  of 
those  that  attend,  nearly  half  graduate  after 
the  third  grade.  That  is  to  say,  making  fair 
allowance  for  the  children  in  parochial 
schools,  the  average  schooling  of  Cleveland 
children  is  not  far  from  three  years. 

We  have  no  such  accurate  figures  for  the 
rural  districts  or  I  should  have  quoted  them. 


24  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

But  we  have  little  reason  to  think  that  the 
conditions  are  very  much  better  than  in  the 
cities,  except  in  prosperous  villages  or  in 
townships  where  the  schools  are  consolidated. 
More  country  children  are  in  school,  but 
probably  for  a  much  shorter  school  year  and 
for  irregular  periods.  The  fact  is  clear  that 
our  public  school  constituency  is  very  limited. 
Great  is  our  debt  to  the  schools.  They  are 
the  hope  of  the  republic.  There  is  a  splendid 
army  of  earnest  men  and  women  giving 
heroic  service  as  teachers,  and  every  year 
their  standard  of  efficiency  is  raised  a  little 
higher.  I  am  not  criticising  them;  I  am 
simply  showing  that  they  cannot  do  the  whole 
work  of  training  for  country  life  and  leader- 
ship, for  their  scope  of  influence  is  seriously 
limited,  mainly  to  young  children. 

This  is  not  true  of  the  church  or  the 
Sunday-school.  Both  include  potentially  the 
entire  population  and  actually  include  people 
of  all  ages  as  no  other  institution  does. 
Whereas  isolated  Sunday-schools  can  still  be 
found  in  which  most  of  the  members  are 
children,  they  are  very  exceptional,  especially 
in  the  country  districts.  The  "Adult  Bible 
Class  movement"  the  past  ten  years,  and  the 
growth  of  the   "Home   Department"   have 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  25 

considerably  increased  the  percentage  of 
adults  in  Sunday-schools,  so  that  I  think  the 
results  Dr.  Wilson  found  in  three  Indiana 
counties,  which  were  intensively  studied,  will 
prove  typical  of  most  rural  counties.  The 
total  enrollment  was  found  to  be  divided  into 
almost  equal  thirds,  children  under  fourteen, 
adults  over  twenty-one,  and  youth  between 
those  ages.  Substantially  the  same  results 
are  found  in  Missouri.  This  is  not  saying 
that  there  are  more  children  in  Sunday-school 
than  in  day  school ;  but  it  shows  that  the  scope 
of  the  former  Is  far  broader,  that  the  coun- 
try Sunday-school  especially  is  not  merely  a 
child's  institution.  There  are  villages  In 
which  the  Sunday-school  enrollment  exceeds 
the  village  population,  because  of  attendance 
from  outside,  added  to  efficient  work  in  the 
neighborhood. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  Sunday- 
school  is  a  far  greater  factor  in  the  com- 
munity life  In  the  country  than  in  the  city. 
Three-fourths  of  the  total  Sunday-schools  in 
America  are  In  the  rural  sections.  They  are 
far  more  representative  of  the  population 
than  the  city  schools.  Usually  they  are  com- 
munity Institutions  and  often  the  country 
people  think  more  of  them  than  they  do  of 


26  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

their  churches!  While  the  preachers  come 
and  go  and  are  usually  non-residents  any  way, 
the  Sunday-school  officers  and  teachers  are 
the  permanent  religious  leaders  of  the  com- 
munity and  are  often  prominent  citizens. 
Preaching  services  are  irregularly  held,  but 
the  Sunday-school  meets  every  Sunday  in  the 
year. 

In  the  Southern  Baptist  and  Methodist 
churches  we  are  told  there  are  17,000  preach- 
ing services  omitted  every  Sunday  for  lack  of 
a  regular  pastor,  but  their  Sunday-schools  are 
doubtless  in  session  regularly.  The  Sunday- 
school  is  a  laymen's  institution  with  lay 
leadership;  perhaps  that  is  why  Dr.  Wilson 
found  12  per  cent  more  men  in  the  Sunday- 
school  than  in  the  church.  Though  rural 
Sunday-schools  are  often  very  crude  in 
their  methods,  it  is  evident  that  they  have  a 
great  opportunity  to  wield  vast  influence  in 
country  life  and  to  train  a  staunch,  true  rural 
leadership. 

This  is  doubly  evident  when  we  reflect  that 
the  church  school  is  teaching  what  the  public 
school  cannot  teach — spiritual  realities,  and 
what  the  schools  at  present  seldom  teach — 
ethical  standards,  moral  principles  and 
motives  for  the  making  of  character.    Until 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  27 

the  public  schools  of  America,  which  are  so 
much  more  timid  than  the  schools  of  Ger- 
many, France  and  even  Japan,  discover  how 
to  teach  ethics,  the  rural  Sunday-schools  will 
be  indispensable.  It  is  the  church's  unique 
function  then,  as  the  teacher  of  the  most  vital 
spiritual  and  ethical  truths  to  all  classes  and 
ages,  which  compels  us  to  consider  it  one  of 
the  foremost  factors  in  training  for  country 
life. 

I  have  carefully  noted  conditions  to  remind 
you  that  we  cannot  afford  to  neglect  the 
Sunday-school  as  we  face  our  problem  of 
vitalizing  country  life  with  new  purposeful- 
ness,  of  training  a  rural  citizenship  which 
shall  be  efficient  and  loyal  to  the  country,  and 
of  developing  a  rural  leadership  which  shall 
be  able  to  cope  with  the  serious  difficulties 
involved  in  rural  redirection. 

A  new  country  life  is  surely  in  the  making. 
A  new  rural  civilization  is  already  here,  with 
its  modern  equipment,  its  scientific  agricul- 
ture, its  wonderful  machinery,  its  gradual 
conquest  of  isolation  and  drudgery  and  the 
hopelessly  commonplace,  and  its  crying  need 
of  social  cooperation  in  every  phase  of  life. 
We  rejoice  in  our  "bumper  crops,"  the  foun- 
dation of  our  national  prosperity,  but  whence 


28  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

shall  come  the  high  ideals  which  shall  thwart 
an  increasing  rural  materialism?  Whither 
shall  we  look  for  the  leadership  of  the  spirit 
which  shall  keep  country  life  sound  and  true 
at  heart?  Our  rural  leadership  must  not  be 
simply  corn  fed.  It  must  be  an  illumined 
leadership;  not  merely  intelligent  but  pro- 
phetic, keen  in  insight  and  with  spiritual 
perceptions.  Our  choicest  country  boys  and 
girls,  yes,  and  the  rank  and  file,  must  come  to 
the  purest  springs  of  inspiration  which  the 
world  has  known,  the  literature  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  and  here  kindle  the 
noblest  enthusiasms  of  their  young  lives,  and 
see  the  visions  of  the  world's  greatest  seers 
and  share  the  heart  throbs  of  God's  prophets 
who  felt  the  divine  call  and  the  divine  impulse 
in  their  lives. 

The  people  of  the  open  country  have  so 
few  institutions,  their  social  structure  is  so 
simple  and  so  bare,  they  can  ill  afford  to  lose 
any  of  their  effective  social  outfit.  They 
need  to  utilize  and  vitalize  every  institution 
they  possess  which  makes  for  righteousness 
and  an  efficient  life.  Anyone  can  criticise 
the  country  Sunday-school.  It  is  an  easy 
mark;  so  naive  in  its  blunders  and  so  quaint 
in  its  crudeness ;  but  before  we  deign  to  criti- 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  29 

else  it,  let  us  recognize  the  service  it  has 
rendered  and  the  unique  position  it  still  holds. 
It  is  too  essential — ^just  because  of  its  unique 
opportunity  for  influence — to  justify  either 
condemnation  or  neglect.  Let  us  find  its 
needs  and  try  to  improve  it;  for  we  cannot 
do  without  it. 

I  suspect  that  we  need  a  different  objective, 
or  rather  a  broader  objective,  in  most  of  our 
rural  Sunday-schools.  Too  many  of  them 
limit  their  efforts  to  making  Christians,  or 
perhaps  Baptists,  instead  of  developing 
manly,  effective  Christian  citizens.  Do  not 
misunderstand  me.  I  mean  simply  this.  The 
evangelistic  aim  should  not  be  the  whole  pur- 
pose of  the  Sunday-school.  Leading  the  boys 
and  girls  to  begin  the  Christian  life  should 
not  be  the  end  of  the  Sunday-school's  effort, 
as  I  fear  it  is  too  frequently.  This  is  making 
an  end  of  a  beginning — a  manifest  absurd- 
ity. What  then  should  be  the  end  of  the 
Sunday-school's  effort?  I  do  not  know.  It 
is  invisible.  It  is  very  great,  but  too  far  away 
to  see.  There  is  a  vast  area  of  service  in 
between.  But  I  am  sure  that  the  Sunday- 
school  should  aim  at  nothing  less  than  to 
develop  a  symmetrical  Christian  manhood 
and  womanhood  in  its  boys  and  girls,  and  to 


30  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

have  a  share  in  making  efficient  citizens  of 
its  men  and  women;  citizens  of  this  pres- 
ent world,  I  mean,  not  merely  passengers 
safely  ticketed  on  the  Methodist  Limited  to 
Emmanuel's  Land  far  away.  In  saying  this 
I  would  not  diminish  at  all  the  right  sort 
of  evangelism  in  the  Sunday-school.  It  is 
mighty  important  for  a  boy  in  his  teens,  yes, 
before,  to  become  a  friend  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  to  ally  himself  loyally  with  his  great 
world  movement;  but  enlistment  is  only  the 
soldier's  first  duty.  The  cross  is  no  mere 
resting  place.  Let  Christian  make  himself 
useful  on  the  King's  highway. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  many  country 
Sunday-schools  are  handicapped  by  the  low 
ideals  of  the  churches  and  their  serious  mis- 
conception of  what  religion  really  is.  In 
many  places  I  have  discovered  the  ideal  of 
religious  experience  to  be  so  crude  and  vapid, 
so  unintelligent  and  so  lacking  in  real  moral 
results  in  character  that  it  fails  to  win  the 
respect  of  the  average  man  in  the  community. 
I  am  making  no  attack  upon  sane  evangelism 
when  I  say  that  country  churches  must  quit 
depending  on  periodic  debauches  of  feverish 
emotional  revivalism  to  maintain  their  spirit- 
ual life.     Self-respecting  people  shun  stimu- 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  31 

lants.     The   after  effects   are   too   awful — 
whatever  may  be  the  temporary  exaltation. 

When^  the  country  churches  frankly  face 
the  fact  that  a  permanent  religious  experience 
must  be  based  upon  an  intelligent  consecration 
of  the  individual  life,  and  that  this  must  be 
prepared  for  by  a  patient  course  of  teaching 
and  training — then  the  Sunday-school  will 
come  to  its  own.  I  rejoice  that  many  churches 
have  already  come  to  the  joy  and  peace  of 
this  discovery  and  are  making  religious  edu- 
cation, both  in  the  Sunday-school  and  in  a 
thoughtful  pulpit,  the  practical  ideal  of  their 
chief  service  to  the  community.  The  wise 
minister  is  depending  less  upon  the  "rouse- 
ments,"  to  which  an  over-exhorted  congre- 
gation soon  becomes  immune,  and  more  upon 
the  practical  teaching  of  the  facts  of  religion 
and  life,  which  feeds  souls  and  grows  charac- 
ter. Sermons  of  frothy  piosity  and  noisy 
'^hot-air"  are  more  and  more  repulsive  to  the 
country  people  after  once  they  have  heard  the 
real  preaching  of  a  man  with  a  life  message 
who  rejoices  in  the  function  of  a  true  religious 
teacher,  appealing  to  intelligence  first,  and 
the  will  second  and  then  developing  through 
action  the  wholesome  emotion  which  endures 
in  a  permanently  consecrated  life. 


32  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

While  we  are  speaking  of  fundamentals, 
next  in  importance  after  the  new  ideal  of  the 
religious  life  itself  is  an  intelligent  knowledge 
of  the  Bible.  The  blight  of  country  life  is  a 
perfunctory  belief  in  a  dead  book,  which 
somehow,  no  man  knows  how,  like  Moses' 
tables  of  stone,  is  supposed  to  have  come 
from  the  finger  of  God.  Religious  education 
needs  a  better  foundation  than  this,  or,  under 
the  onslaughts  of  doubt,  faith  totters  to  its 
fall.  The  basis  of  a  Hving  faith  must  be  a 
Book  of  Life.  The  Bible  is  not  a  mere  maga- 
zine for  the  storage  of  theological  powder 
and  shot  for  use  against  heretics,  higher 
critics  and  the  devil,  nor  is  it  an  unearthly 
book  of  apoqalypses  like  the  Koran  or  the 
book  of  Mormon.  The  Bible  is  a  wonderful 
part  of  human  history.  A  splendid  enthusi- 
asm will  increasingly  come  to  the  country 
churches  as  they  discover  the  Bible  to  be  the 
record  of  actual  life-struggles  of  real  proph- 
ets and  living  apostles,  who  left  the  world 
these  glowing  records  of  their  lives  and  of 
God*s  progressive  revelation  of  himself  to 
them.  The  historical  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  gives  a  new  and  vital  meaning  to  many 
chapters  which  have  been  dead  letters,  neg- 
lected and  forgotten.     Young  people  espe- 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  33 

daily,  trained  to  the  scientific  method  in  the 
schools,  welcome  it  as  a  reasonable  and 
worthy  basis  for  a  vital,  self-respecting  faith. 

Our  faith  in  the  Sunday-school  as  an  insti- 
tution of  unique  importance  in  the  country 
must  not  blind  us  to  its  defects.  We  must 
discover  them  to  remedy  them.  Often  the 
country  Sunday-school  is  just  as  efficient  and 
conducted  on  just  as  modern  lines  as  the  best 
in  the  city;  but  in  general  the  country  Sunday- 
schools  are  fully  as  defective  as  the  local 
public  schools  and  for  similar  reasons.  The 
state  Sunday-school  associations  are  making 
rapid  progress  in  standardizing  the  schools 
by  the  introduction  of  partially  graded  les- 
sons and  something  of  the  machinery  of  the 
modern  system.  But  the  teachers  are  usually 
untrained,  though  well-meaning;  and  they 
usually  stay  with  the  same  class  year  after 
year,  growing  up  with  the  members  instead 
of  remaining  in  the  same  department  and 
becoming  expert  teachers  in  some  one  grade 
and  period  of  boy  life  and  girlhood. 

A  very  common  fault  in  the  country 
Sunday-school  is  not  merely  the  disorder  but 
the  noise — the  extremely  loud  talking  in- 
dulged in  by  everybody  simultaneously!  It 
is  very  distracting  to  one  not  used  to  it  and 


34  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

sometimes  very  laughable.  It  seems  to  add 
to  the  boys'  interest  in  the  auction-like  pro- 
ceedings, though  certainly  not  to  their  intelli- 
gence about  the  lesson.  Such  schools  are  not 
equipped  of  course  for  effective  teaching,  the 
classes  being  so  near  together  as  to  fatally 
disturb  each  other. 

In  harmony  with  the  parsimonious  thrift 
of  rural  church  finances,  the  popular  lesson 
quarterlies  in  the  country  are  often  of  the 
cheapest  variety,  Chicago-made  canned  ortho- 
doxy preserved  in  perfectly  harmless  pre- 
digested  doses,  and  printed  on  appropriately 
cheap  paper.  The  teachers  are  apt  to  follow 
all  too  faithfully  the  golden  rule  of  ancient 
pedagogy:  "Teach  unto  others  as  it  was 
taught  unto  you."  Stereotyped  questions  and 
printed  answers  are  consistently  recited  by 
the  younger  classes  without  stirring  anything 
but  surface  interest.  The  older  classes  often 
make  the  lesson  merely  a  point  of  departure 
and  soon  take  to  the  well-worn  fields  of  theo- 
logical discussion  on  trite  themes  of  personal 
hobbies.  Or,  if  the  teacher  happens  to  be 
fluent  and  the  class  more  patient  than  talka- 
tive, he  makes  the  teaching  purely  homiletic, 
and,  like  the  apostles  of  old,  takes  a  text  and 
then  goes  everywhere  preaching  the  gospel. 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  35 

Though  many  country  Sunday-schools  have 
already  been  rescued  from  the  dull  monotony 
of  this  fruitless  routine,  there  is  still  great 
improvement  needed.  The  first  essential  is 
to  raise  up  and  train  a  new  corps  of  teachers 
of  the  vital,  full-blooded  sort,  men  for  the 
classes  of  boys  in  their  teens  which  are  more 
often  found  in  the  country  than  in  the  city. 
The  teaching  must  be  less  a  matter  of  mere 
parrot-like  recitation  or  weak  moralizing 
and  more  a  matter  of  definite  instruction. 
Nothing  is  taught  unless  somebody  learns 
something. 

I  am  confident  that  the  country  Sunday- 
school  has  a  great  possible  usefulness  among 
the  men  of  the  community,  as  a  developer  of 
public  opinion  and  a  community  spirit.  A 
year  ago  in  a  rural  county  of  Central  Ohio 
the  annual  County  Sunday-school  Conven- 
tion demonstrated  the  loyalty  of  the  men  to 
religion  with  a  street  parade  of  over  three 
thousand  men  ( lo  per  cent  of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  county) .  The  finest  men  in  that 
county  are  back  of  the  Sunday-school  move- 
ment and  are  really  making  it  efficient. 

To  arouse  such  enthusiasm  the  Sunday- 
school  must  be  definitely  practical  in  its 
teachings.     Sectarianism  must  be  discarded 


36  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

and  the  great  essentials  of  a  universal  Chris- 
tian faith  must  take  its  place,  the  vital  truths 
which  evangelical  Christians  hold  in  common. 
And  there  is  surely  a  great  opportunity  in 
the  country  for  the  study  of  the  social  gospel 
of  Jesus  and  the  prophets,  covering  the  vital 
matters  of  common  life,  of  ordinary  right- 
eousness and  social  ethics,  the  relations 
between  men.  Here  is  an  opportunity  not 
merely  for  developing  the  most  exciting  sort 
of  class  discussions  among  adult  men,  on  live 
topics  in  which  they  are  keenly  interested, 
bringing  to  bear  all  the  pure  white  light  of 
Christian  teaching  where  it  will  do  the  most 
good ;  but  also  the  opportunity  to  get  speedy 
results  in  the  life  of  the  community,  as  the 
social  ethics  and  the  practical  personal  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  work  out  in  life  and  the  church 
becomes  most  effectually  a  community  builder. 
I  know  of  no  better  place  to  discuss  all  the 
problems  of  rural  progress  and  to  develop 
constructive  plans  for  real  community  build- 
ing, than  right  here  in  the  Brotherhood  class 
of  the  Sunday-school. 

We  have  yet  to  develop  a  Sunday-school 
literature  which  is  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  country  Sunday-school  and  is  therefore 
well  fitted  to  train  for  country  life.     It  is  an 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  37 

unfortunate  fact  that  most  Sunday-school 
quarterlies  and  lesson  studies  are  being  pro- 
duced in  the  cities  and  by  city  editors,  and 
like  practically  all  text-books  bear  pretty 
evidently  the  urban  stamp. 

Yet  the  Bible  itself  is  a  book  of  rural  life 
with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  writings  of 
Paul.  The  Gospels  breathe  the  free  air  of 
Galilee  and  Perea;  and  the  Old  Testament 
is  rural  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  down.  No 
wonder  country  folks  appreciate  it.  As  Dr. 
Franklin  McElfresh  well  says:  ''The  Bible 
sprang  from  the  agonies  of  a  shepherd's  soul, 
from  the  triumph  of  a  herdsman's  faith  and 
the  glory  of  a  fisherman's  love."  Its  religion 
keeps  close  to  the  ground  and  interprets  the 
daily  life  of  sincere  men  who  lived  near  to 
nature.  One  of  the  great  days  in  the  history 
of  religion  and  of  liberty  is  on  record  when  a 
vinedresser  named  Amos  stood  up  before  the 
king  of  Israel  to  speak  the  burden  of  his  soul. 
'Trophet,"  said  he,  "I  am  no  prophet,  only 
a  plain  farmer;  but  I  came  by  God's  call  to 
tell  you  the  truth."  This  was  the  daydawn 
of  Hebrew  prophecy. 

"The  Bible  can  best  be  interpreted  in  the 
country.  It  sprang  from  a  pastoral  people. 
It  is  full  of  the  figures  of  the  soil  and  the  flock 


38  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

and  the  field.  Its  richest  images  are  from  the 
plain  face  of  nature  and  the  homely  life  of 
humble  cottages."  Country  Sunday-schools 
need  a  lesson  literature  which  can  interpret  to 
them  the  wonderful  messages  of  the  Book  of 
books  in  terms  of  rural  life;  but  meanwhile 
they  are  doing  their  best  to  discover  these 
messages  of  life  themselves;  and  a  vast  army 
of  teachers  are  week  by  week  sharing  their 
visions  and  giving  of  their  best  to  make  the 
country  Sunday-school  an  effective  institution 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

It  is  difficult  for  us,  meeting  in  this  metrop- 
olis, where  we  are  overwhelmed  by  the 
greatness  of  all  things  urban,  to  think  of  the 
real  vastness  of  things  rural.  Among  these 
rural  forces  the  country  Sunday-school  I 
believe  is  one  of  the  greatest.  In  the  aggre- 
gate it  is  after  all  a  great  affair.  When  I 
remind  you  that  there  are  in  our  land 
17,000  annual  Sunday-school  conventions, 
and  that  most  of  these  are  in  the  country,  you 
can  imagine  for  yourselves  the  far  vaster 
number  of  separate  Sunday-schools  which 
practically  everywhere  are  serving  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people  who  live  on  the  land. 
There  are  state,  district,  county  and  township 
organizations,   in  which  sectarian  divisions. 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  39 

the  curse  of  religion,  are  merged  and  tem- 
porarily forgotten;  and  so  thorough  is  this 
work,  in  some  places  practically  the  entire 
population  of  a  rural  community  is  connected 
with  the  Sunday-school. 

In  attempting  in  conclusion  a  summary  of 
my  message  I  would  offer  a  constructive 
policy  as  follows : 

Inasmuch  as  the  breadth  of  the  coun- 
try Sunday-school's  opportunity  is  unique, 
broader  than  the  public  schools  and  even 
broader  than  the  church  itself,  because  more 
nearly  universal,  and  including  in  its  scope 
the  entire  population,  both  children  and 
adults;  and  because  its  business  is  to  teach  the 
great  truths  of  life  and  apply  them  to  prac- 
tical living;  it  is  evident  that  this  is  one  of  the 
greatest  of  all  rural  institutions,  possibly 
second  to  none  in  its  actual  influence. 

Because  of  this  vast  potential  influence  of 
the  country  Sunday-school,  all  country  lovers 
should  recognize  that  it  can  be  made  to  out- 
grow its  crudities  and  to  become  one  of  the 
mightiest  allies  of  the  country  life  movement 
for  permanent  rural  progress;  that  by  devel- 
oping the  eflSiciency  of  the  Sunday-school  we 
are  not  only  enriching  country  life  at  its  very 


40  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

center,  but  are  helping  to  train  an  intelligent, 
consecrated,  community  leadership. 

What  then  should  be  our  endeavor  in  rela- 
tion to  this  great  social  factor  in  rural 
community  life? 

1.  To  enlist  in  it  and  claim  for  it  the 
loyal  support  of  the  entire  rural  community; 
insisting  that  the  strongest  men  and  women 
in  the  community  will  find  it  not  only  a  potent 
agency  for  their  local  influence  and  service, 
but  also  for  their  own  personal  development 
and  training  for  better  leadership. 

2.  To  obtain  for  the  Sunday-school  an 
adequate  equipment,  so  that  it  can  do  efficient 
work.  It  is  a  wonder  that  Sunday-schools 
using  merely  a  single  room,  with  practically 
no  equipment  at  all,  accomplish  as  much  as 
they  do. 

3.  To  relate  the  Sunday-school  and  the 
work  of  religious  education  to  the  educational 
forces  of  the  community  and  to  be  content 
with  no  lower  pedagogical  standard  than  the 
day  schools  maintain. 

4.  To  claim  the  cooperation  of  the  best 
trained  teachers  available,  including  the 
public  school  teachers;  and  to  maintain 
teacher  training  as  a  regular  part  of  the 
church's  work. 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  41 

5.  To  develop  a  Sunday-school  literature 
indigenous  to  rural  life  and  adapted  to  its 
needs,  which  shall  utilize  the  vast  body  of 
rural  material  in  the  Bible,  and  shall  be  pre- 
pared for  the  making  of  country  character 
by  writers  who  understand  country  life  and 
the  needs  and  viewpoints  of  country  people. 

6.  To  combine  in  the  objective  of  the 
Sunday-school  a  vital  evangelism  with  a  gen- 
uine religious  culture  which  shall  incarnate 
spiritual  teaching  in  ethical  character,  so  that 
the  moral  results  of  our  Sunday-schools  in 
the  country  may  be  more  evident  and  more 
permanent. 

7.  To  relate  the  work  of  the  country 
Sunday-school  in  some  effective  way  to  the 
play  life  of  the  boys  and  girls,  and,  when 
necessary,  to  the  recreative  life  of  the  whole 
community.  This  does  not  necessarily  mean 
turning  the  annual  time-honored  Sunday- 
school  picnic  into  a  continuous  performance. 
But  it  means  the  frank  facing  of  the  fact  by 
the  Sunday-school  authorities  that  no  rural 
community  can  be  saved  until  its  play  life  is 
redeemed,  and  wholesome  recreation  pro- 
vided as  a  basis  for  morals.  If  the  Sunday- 
school  can  stimulate  other  agencies  to  func- 
tion socially,  well  and  good;  otherwise  the 


42  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

Sunday-school  must  see  to  this  work,  if  it 
would  save  Its  boys  and  girls. 

8.  The  Sunday-school  leaders  should  be 
statesmanlike  enough  to  discover  latent 
leadership  in  the  young  people  and  help  to 
train  it.  The  leader's  knowledge,  power, 
skill,  character  and  vision  must  somehow  be 
developed  in  the  most  promising  members 
of  the  community,  in  order  that  these  choice 
spirits  may  grow  to  their  largest  possible 
service  either  in  their  own  community  or  in 
some  other.  Somehow  the  raw  material  of 
leadership,  that  most  costly  thing  in  the 
world,  must  be  better  conserved.  This  is 
tremendously  vital  both  in  the  case  of  the 
country  youth  who  go  to  the  cities,  so  often 
unprepared,  and  also  for  those  who  stay  at 
home  with  great  undeveloped  capacity  for 
leading  their  native  township  to  an  effective 
community  life.  In  this  single  point  there 
is  suggestion  for  broad  usefulness  for  the 
Sunday-school. 

9.  There  should  be  the  closest  coopera- 
tion between  the  Sunday-schools  in  the  coun- 
try and  the  work  of  the  rural  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations,  where  these  are 
found.  The  rural  secretaries  are  usually  well- 
trained  college  men,  experts  in  boy  life  and 


A  FACTOR  IN  TRAINING  43 

leadership  as  well  as  in  all  fundamental  rural 
interests.  They  can  be  of  great  help  to  the 
rural  Sunday-schools  when  cooperation  is 
secured. 


Ill 

A  COORDINATING  FACTOR 

Henry  Israel 
International  Secretary  of  County  Work 

Our  hearts  and  patriotic  impulses  were 
greatly  stimulated  as  we  read  in  the  news- 
papers that  through  the  judicious  statesman- 
like leadership  of  our  President,  Mr.  Taft, 
we  have  been  placed  in  the  peculiar  position 
of  a  coordinating  factor  with  relation  to  all 
the  other  nations  of  the  world  in  the  use  of 
the  Panama  Canal. 

A  few  months  ago  Mr.  Taft  had  submitted 
to  him  the  recommendations  of  Professor 
Emery  R.  Johnson  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Transportation  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  as  to  the  charges  that 
shall  be  made  for  the  vessels  that  shall  pass 
through  the  Panama  Canal,  considering  the 
variety  of  the  capacity  of  these  vessels  and 
other  measurements. 


A  COORDINATING  FACTOR  45 

We  have  since  learned  that  after  carefully 
considering  the  recommendations  our  Presi- 
dent is  about  to  submit  them  to  the  other 
nations  of  the  world  to  secure  their  approval 
and  acceptance  and  thus  achieve  the  ultimate 
reimbursement  to  our  government  of  the 
millions  which  it  has  expended  in  the  building 
of  the  Canal. 

Professor  Johnson  said  it  would  take 
approximately  twenty  years  to  pay  the  price 
of  this  gigantic  piece  of  engineering. 

We  are  invited  to  discuss  practically  a 
coordinating  factor  in  the  great  rural  prob- 
lem. Who  is  to  determine  what  price  will 
need  to  be  paid  for  this  progress  of  rural 
civilization  not  only  in  our  own  land,  but  in 
the  nations  of  the  world?  Are  we  not  face 
to  face  with  the  need  of  scientific  data  with 
regard  to  the  money,  the  time  and  the  human 
energy  which  will  be  required?  Can  we  be 
consistent  and  approach  this  human  and 
spiritual  task  with  any  less  exactitude  than 
does  the  engineer  in  the  building  of  a  canal? 

Whoever  or  whatever  agency  undertakes 
this  task  must  be  in  a  position  to  take  a  tele- 
scopic view  of  the  whole  problem  as  it  pre- 
sents itself  in  this  country.  We  face  prob- 
lems intensive  as  well  as  extensive.    Some  of 


46  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

these  have  been  presented  in  other  chapters, 
along  educational  lines,  civic,  social  and  reli- 
gious, and  there  are  others  that  still  need  to 
be  discovered.  We  must  first  find  the  sources 
out  of  which  coordination  can  issue.  Mr. 
Taft  is  seeking  out  the  farthermost  nations 
of  the  world  which  may  have  any  use  for  the 
Canal  in  order  that  he  may  submit  to  them 
his  proposals.  As  a  coordinating  factor  he 
must  have  an  outlook;  he  must  be  statesman- 
like as  well  as  sympathetic;  his  overtures  must 
be  acceptable. 

Our  nation  presents  the  rural  problem  of 
a  vast  area.  There  is  need  of  understanding 
and  cooperation  on  the  part  of  all  those 
factors  who  are  participants  in  the  furthering 
of  our  rural  civilization.  There  are  experi- 
ments going  on  in  the  state  of  Washington 
and  vicinity,  in  Texas,  in  New  England,  in 
the  north  and  in  the  south,  and  where  is  the 
coordinating  factor  whereby  duplication  and 
waste  can  be  eliminated  and  inspiration  given 
to  the  consideration  and  experimentation  in 
those  problems,  of  which  there  is  no  general 
**awareness"?  The  time  has  come  when  we 
must  make  for  coordination  in  a  constructive 
program  that  will  reach  its  consummation  and 
destination  within  a  definite  period.    This  is 


A  COORDINATING  FACTOR  47 

what  I  mean  by  a  factor  with  a  telescopic 
viewpoint — reaching  out  to  a  definite  goal. 

We  need  to  establish  friendly  relationships 
among  all  who  have  the  least  share  in  this 
great  ideal.  In  order  that  Professor  Fiske's 
findings  may  be  made  available  to  the  student 
in  the  state  of  Florida,  in  Maine,  In  India, 
or  anywhere  in  Great  Britain,  there  Is  needed 
this  Intermediary  who  Is  accepted  by  all. 
Such  an  agency,  bureau,  commission,  organi- 
zation or  committee  must  be  so  situated  that 
It  can  readily  see  what  is  going  on  and 
project  the  results  into  the  realm  where  these 
are  needed.  It  must  inspire,  suggest  and 
cooperate. 

Let  me  submit  such  a  project  that  looks 
forward  to  the  consummation  of  a  plan 
within  a  given  time  to  reach  a  definite  goal. 
It  entails  the  ultimate  Investment  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  the  life  energy  of  ^wo. 
thousand  trained  leaders  in  the  course  of  a 
period  of  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  years. 

If  the  payment  for  the  Panama  Canal  can 
be  made  In  twenty  years  by  patron  nations, 
on  the  basis  of  the  accurate  measurements 
of  their  vessels  which  are  to  use  the  Canal, 
then  likewise  we  can  approximate  a  superior 
rural  civilization  within  a  given  time  provided 


48  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

adequate  measurements  and  evaluations  have 
been  made  of  all  the  elements  involved. 
Having  thus  established  standards,  any  prac- 
tical demonstration  under  such  standardized 
conditions  can  be  readily  duplicated  under 
like  circumstances  anywhere  on  the  globe. 
Thus  we  are  compelled  to  reckon  in  terms  of 
the  geographical  units  in  which  we  are  to 
undertake  our  task.  In  our  nation  the  fore- 
going fundamentals  must  be  applied  to  states 
in  and  for  themselves  as  well  as  in  coopera- 
tion with  all  the  other  states  through  an  inter- 
state or  national  coordinating  agency.  What 
applies  to  this  area  applies  to  counties  rela- 
tive to  the  state,  townships  relative  to  the 
county,  communities  relative  to  townships  and 
so  on  down  until  in  the  final  analysis  we  come 
to  the  individual  who  is  the  basis  of  our 
whole  propaganda. 

These  are  the  various  realms  in  which  not 
general  but  very  specific  evaluations  must  be 
made.  This  requires  statesmanship,  expert- 
ness,  leadership,  yes,  all  that  is  embodied  in 
a  real  Christ-spirit  life-sharing  with  the  indi- 
vidual in  the  community  for  the  maximum  of 
efficiency  and  minimum  expenditure  of  "pro- 
fessional" leadership.    It  must  be  of  the  soil, 


A  COORDINATING  FACTOR  49 

native  to  the  community  and  to  neighborhood 
life. 

It  is  to  this  sort  of  a  program  that  the 
County  Committees,  State  Committees  and 
the  International  Committee  are  addressing 
themselves.  It  is  a  herculean  task  that  we 
are  facing  in  the  helping  of  the  group  of  boys 
in  the  isolated  community  to  find  for  itself 
its  own  potentialities.  Here  begins  the  prob- 
lem of  coordination  and  cooperation  because 
the  values  of  one  are  not  known  to  the  other 
and  collective  values  and  powers  much  less. 
Individualism,  social  stratification,  denomi- 
nationalism,  family  group  jealousies  of  a  cen- 
tury we  must  face,  and  whether  we  believe  in 
predestination  or  not  we  are  adding  our  fixed 
share  to  the  changing  of  thes^  conditions 
through  local  volunteer  leadership  which  is 
being  inspired,  trained,  developed  and  util- 
ized by  that  employed  leadership  about  which 
Professor  Fiske  has  previously  spoken. 

This  is  not  a  matter  of  weeks  or  months 
or  of  impossibilities;  it  is  not  unlike  the  situa- 
tion with  which  the  Panama  Canal  Commis- 
sion was  confronted.  Yet  out  of  this 
apparently  impossible  task  which  France  had 
proven  impossible,  the  Canal  is  about  to  be 
completed,  and  in  our  experience  we  find  life 


50  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

m  the  open  country  In  village,  town  and 
hamlet  yielding  to  the  call  to  a  new  rural 
civilization.  This,  if  you  please,  is  even 
more  than  statesmanlike  social  engineering. 
Nothing  less  than  the  dominating,  patient, 
persisting  and  pervading  spirit  of  Christ  can 
overcome  this  static  condition  of  country  life. 

We  are  now  at  work  In  something  like  600 
communities,  in  eighty  counties  in  twenty-two 
states  and  provinces  in  America.  Over  1,500 
volunteer  leaders  in  these  communities  con- 
stitute the  pioneers  of  this  new  civilization; 
they  have  come  out  of  the  old  into  the  new. 
They  exemplify  and  project  for  their  com- 
munity in  and  through  their  groups  of  boys 
twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  the  new 
ideals  of  community  life  In  which  they  dwell; 
they  dignify  it;  appreciation  of  it  is  awaken- 
ing during  that  impressionable  age  of  boy- 
hood until,  with  patriotic  pride  and  honor  for 
village  and  country  together  with  intelligence 
of  conditions  In  the  city,  the  suggestion  of 
and  craving  for  urban  centers  loses  its  one- 
time force.  Such  is  the  spirit  in  at  least  1,200 
boy  groups. 

Thus,  as  some  of  our  rural  leaders  have 
declared,  the  problem  of  the  country  is  not 
an  economic  but  a  moral  problem.     Laying 


A  COORDINATING  FACTOR  51 

our  foundations  In  the  word  of  God  as  did  the 
founders  of  our  nation,  who  landed  on  the 
rock-bound  coast  of  New  England,  and  with 
abounding  faith  In  the  superhuman  leader- 
ship of  Jesus  Christ,  we  hope  to  share  in  the 
ushering  in  of  this  new  civilization.  It  is 
this  supreme  and  superb  inheritance  which 
humanly  speaking  needs  to  he  capitalized, 
particularly  In  the  face  of  the  kind  of  task 
with  which  we  are  confronted.  In  demon- 
stration of  this  spirit  and  unified  approach, 
individual  churches,  two  and  three,  have 
merged  Into  one  community-serving  church. 
Boy  power  has  been  conserved  and  directed 
purposefully  involving  lOO  per  cent  of  the 
boy  life  In  many  communities.  This  spirit 
of  solidarity  and  coordination  finds  expres- 
sion in  the  strong  County  Committee,  each 
member  of  which  possesses  the  vision  and 
spirit  of  service,  has  the  county-wide  outlook, 
is  ready  to  share  material  as  well  as  spiritual 
weapons  for  this  crusade.  He  experiences  as 
a  pleasure  and  privilege  the  investment  of 
his  money.  Therefore,  men  of  influence  and 
men  of  financial  resources  are  enlisted  without 
difficulty  when  once  the  program  of  a  genera- 
tion or  two  is  outlined.  Thus  ten  millions  of 
dollars  will  not  Issue  from  some  inanimate 


52  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

*' Foundation"  but  from  devoted  and  conse- 
crated men  and  women  in  partnership  with 
God  toward  the  consummation  of  his  will, 
that  it  be  done  on  the  earth,  in  community  life 
as  it  is  done  in  Heaven. 


IV 


EDUCATIONAL  READJUSTMENT 
OF  COUNTRY  LIFE 

Mason  S.  Stone 
Superintendent  of  Education,  Vermont 

A  colored  orator  said  that  "Education  is 
the  great  palladium  of  our  civil  and  religious 
liberties  and  the  grand  pandemonium  of  our 
civilization."  In  reporting  for  Vermont,  I 
am  very  glad  to  say  that  we  have  been 
endeavoring  to  create  a  pandemonium  be- 
cause we  prefer  it  to  an  unresponsive 
quiescence. 

It  has  been  our  great  good  fortune  to  invite 
into  the  state  and  to  have  the  benefit  of 
the  services  of  that  general  disturber,  Mr. 
Roberts,  and  we  are  not  through  with  him 
yet.  It  is  highly  significant  that  we  have  men 
who  are  giving  themselves  so  generously  to 
the  rural  uplift  and  in  this  connection  I  am 
especially  gratified  that  the  National  Agri- 
cultural Society  and  the  American  Country 


54  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

Life  Federation  have  been  organized,  be- 
cause, if  I  have  understood  correctly,  they 
are  going  to  back  the  Page  Bill,  which  will 
mean  more  for  the  development  of  country 
life  than  any  other  measure  ever  presented  to 
Congress.  In  the  old  country  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  confer  the  degree  of  D.  C.  L.,  and  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  that  some  of  our 
American  institutions  will  eventually  confer 
D.  C.  L.  on  such  men  as  Messrs.  Hays,  Israel 
and  Roberts  as  Doctors  of  Country  Life. 

The  condition  of  the  country  is  rather 
inviting  as  a  field  for  work,  but  you  all  appre- 
ciate that  there  are  two  adverse  conditions, 
one  of  which  is  isolation.  The  country  people 
are  not  brought  together  and  socialized  in  the 
manner  in  which  they  ought  to  be ;  in  fact,  the 
country  people  need  to  be  saved  from  their 
sordid  and  materialistic  selves.  When  any 
community  becomes  self-centered  and  self- 
conscious,  that  community  begins  to  rot 
educationally,  morally  and  spiritually.  The 
salvation  of  country  life  is  a  salvation  from 
itself.  It  needs  a  vision  and  I  am  highly 
gratified  to  have  been  at  a  conference  where 
so  much  has  been  said  in  regard  to  vision. 

One  other  feature  which  is  adverse  to  the 
development  of  country  life  is  the  push  and 


EDUCATIONAL  READJUSTMENT  55 

pull  factor.  The  drudgery  of  the  country 
home  and  the  lack  of  social  activities,  to  a 
certain  extent,  drive  the  young  men  and 
women  away  from  the  country  home ;  and  on 
the  other  hand  is  the  pull  of  the  city  and 
village.  In  consequence  there  has  been  a 
depletion  of  country  life.  The  great  problem 
is,  "How  can  we  in  any  degree  revive  rural 
conditions?" 

I  am  to  report  in  regard  to  some  agencies 
at  work  in  Vermont  for  readjustment  of 
country  life  and  for  its  development.  I  wish 
to  call  your  attention  first  to  the  fact  that 
Vermont  has  established  a  system  of  school 
supervision  by  combination  of  towns  and  a 
bill  is  before  the  legislature  to  make  the  sys- 
tem mandatory.  Also,  I  am  glad  to  say  that 
the  greatest  agency  we  have  in  Vermont  is 
the  establishment  of  a  teacher  training  course 
system  by  which  we  are  fitting  teachers  for 
the  rural  schools.  We  expect  that  within  five 
years  Vermont  will  have  a  supply  of  trained 
high  school  graduates  available  for  all  the 
rural  schools  of  the  state. 

Within  a  month,  the  Bureau  of  Education 
at  Washington  has  put  forth  a  little  bulletin 
relative  to  the  high  school  at  Colebrook, 
N.   H.,   entitled   "The   Readjustment   of   a 


56  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

Community  and  Its  Needs."  In  Vermont  we 
have  one  such  Institution  through  which  a 
community  is  finding  Itself  and  through  which 
it  has  discarded  the  old  monopoly  by  the 
classics  and  is  trying  to  give  the  children,  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  community,  an  education 
fitted  to  their  experience  and  needs.  In  fact, 
a  complete  change  of  teachers  has  occurred 
and  the  school  board  has  put  in  a  department 
of  agriculture  with  an  especially  trained  man 
in  charge,  a  domestic  science  course,  a  course 
in  good  business  citizenship  and  a  course  for 
preparing  teachers  for  rural  schools.  The 
community  awakened  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
devoting  its  substance  almost  wholly  for 
college  and  was  not  expending  Its  public  funds 
for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  Mr.  Hufd 
of  Windsor  County  has  been  doing  a  mag- 
nificent work  and  his  report  In  regard  to  it 
appears  In  another  chapter. 

Vermont  has  also  established  a  state  agri- 
cultural school.  One  night  over  In  a  little 
town  In  the  mountains,  after  I  had  spoken,  a 
boy  came  to  me  to  know  if  he  could  get  Into 
the  new  agricultural  school  at  Randolph 
Center.  I  told  him  I  did  not  know,  because  I 
did  not  know  what  attainments  he  had 
reached.     After  a  while  he  told  me,  and  I 


EDUCATIONAL  READJUSTMENT  SI 

then  told  him  I  thought  he  could.  He 
explained  to  me  his  inability  to  get  over  there 
because  his  people  were  very  poor.  His  only 
possession  in  the  world  was  a  swarm  of  bees. 
But  he  went  over  to  the  agricultural  school 
and  took  his  bees  with  him.  Later  I  received 
a  letter  from  this  boy  and  he  wanted  to  know 
what  would  destroy  the  bee  moth.  I  wrote  to 
a  gentleman  who  could  inform  him.  The 
boy  also  wrote,  "Will  you  please  tell  me  what 
is  the  best  rifle  to  use  for  deer  hunting."  I 
wondered  how  a  boy  without  any  means 
could  go  to  school,  pay  his  way  and  buy  a 
rifle  without  any  money.  On  visiting  the 
school  I  learned  that  he  arrived  with  the 
swarm  of  bees  the  night  prior  to  the  opening 
of  the  school.  As  he  had  to  pay  his  way,  he 
was  assigned  to  the  care  of  one  of  the  halls. 
Early  the  next  morning  one  of  the  instructors 
was  awakened  by  a  disturbance  in  the  hall, 
and,  on  looking  out,  saw  this  boy  at  work. 
The  instructor  asked  him  why  he  was  up  so 
early.  He  said  he  wanted  to  earn  as  much 
as  he  could.  That  first  day  at  school,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  regular  recitations,  he  put  in  thir- 
teen hours'  work,  and  received  credit  for 
$1.30.  Then  I  understood  how  he  could  go 
deer  hunting. 


58  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

We  have  several  instances  of  teachers  who 
have  been  trained  in  our  teacher  training 
classes,  who  have  gone  out,  not  merely  as 
teachers  but  as  workers  with  the  country 
people  and  with  a  proper  attitude  toward 
country  life.  They  go  out,  not  to  superim- 
pose themselves  as  leaders  in  the  communi- 
ties, but  to  work  for  and  with  the  people  and 
to  live  their  life.  In  one  of  our  training 
courses,  several  young  ladies  met  one  day 
with  the  specialist  and  wanted  to  know  what 
they  could  do  along  the  lines  of  community 
service  and  began  at  once  to  study  country 
life  and  to  get  all  the  literature  they  could  in 
order  that  they  might  go  out  fortified  to  meet 
the  problems  which  were  to  confront  them. 

Over  in  a  little  community  there  was  a  boy 
who  had  attained  the  age  where  he  was  in- 
tractable and  he  had  caused  the  teacher  con- 
siderable disturbance  and  anxiety.  The 
father  of  the  boy  was  one  of  the  school 
directors.  At  the  close  of  school,  the  father 
sent  the  boy  over  the  mountains  to  the  valley 
beyond  in  order  to  carry  the  teacher  to  the 
station.  He  went  to  the  teacher's  boarding 
place  in  the  morning,  put  her  grip  in  the  car- 
riage, started  down  the  village  street,  crossed 
the  little  meadow,  passed  through  the  bridge 


EDUCATIONAL  READJUSTMENT  59 

and  began  to  climb  the  mountain.  That  boy 
had  never  been  out  of  the  valley  before,  but, 
as  he  climbed  the  mountain,  he  began  to  see 
hills  to  the  westward  and,  when  he  got  nearly 
to  its  crest,  looking  back  he  could  see  the 
magnificent  range  of  the  Green  Mountains. 
Then  as  he  passed  around  the  mountain  and 
came  out  on  to  a  little  tableland,  he  obtained 
his  first  outlook  upon  the  world.  Over  across 
the  valley  were  forest-crowned  hills;  on  the 
slopes  were  large  quadrangles  of  waving 
grain  and  grass;  below  was  a  superb  valley, 
a  majestic  river  and  numerous  goodly  home- 
steads. The  boy  could  not  control  himself. 
He  rose  up  in  the  carriage  and  exclaimed: 
''Oh,  Jiminy!"  That  boy  on  the  mountain 
top  caught  his  vision  of  life,  and  from  that 
moment  he  was  transformed.  He  hurried 
down  the  valley  to  the  railroad  station, 
helped  the  teacher  out  and  asked  if  he  might 
not  see  her  at  the  train  when  she  returned. 
She  told  him  he  might,  and  the  boy  was  there. 
From  that  moment  that  boy's  life  was 
changed,  simply  because  he  had  caught  the 
vision.  That  is  what  we  are  trying  to  do  in 
Vermont,  to  give  the  boys  a  vision,  to  help 
them  to  realize  their  ideals  and  to  make 
country  life  richer,  sweeter,  better. 


HOW  A  WHOLE  COMMUNITY  IS 
BEING  HELPED 

WicKLiFFE  Rose 

Executive  Secretary  of  the  Southern  Educa- 
tion Board  and  the  Peabody  Education 
Board 

Permit  me,  first  of  all,  to  modify  so  far  as 
our  work  goes,  the  conception  of  the  country 
school  as  given  elsewhere  by  Dean  Fiske. 
The  educational  funds  which  we  are  using  in 
the  southern  states  are  being  used  for  the 
improvement  of  country  schools;  but  the 
country  school  as  we  conceive  it  is  not  de- 
signed solely  for  teaching  small  children. 
The  country  school  whose  work  is  limited  to 
small  children  and  confined  within  the  bound- 
aries of  the  school  grounds  is  not  doing  the 
most  important  work  that  a  real  country 
school  ought  to  do.  The  type  of  country 
school  which  we  are  seeking  to  build  up  has 
the  community  for  Its  campus  and  all  the 
people  of  the  community  for  its  pupils. 


A  WHOLE  COMMUNITY  HELPED  61 

This  is  the  kind  of  school  I  saw  last  spring 
at  Cokato,  Minnesota.  I  am  going  to  tell 
you  of  some  of  the  things  I  found  going  on 
there. 

Cokato  is  a  country  community  located  on 
a  railroad.  In  the  village  proper  are  four  or 
five  hundred  people ;  the  village  is  the  center 
of  an  unusually  prosperous  farming  com- 
munity; the  whole  population  is  thoroughly 
rural,  with  rural  activities,  sympathies  and 
outlook.  In  this  village  is  located  the  central 
country  school.  This  school  comprises  in  its 
course  all  grades  through  the  high  school; 
and  has  under  its  supervision  the  thirteen 
elementary  schools  of  the  surrounding 
district. 

I  found  here  a  school  plant  that  is  inex- 
pensive; the  building  is  unpretentious;  the 
equipment  is  simple;  the  whole  work  of  the 
school  is  kept  very  close  to  the  simple  life  of 
the  farm  and  the  farm  home.  I  will  not 
attempt  in  this  space  to  tell  of  the  ordinary 
things  which  one  would  expect  to  see  in  any 
good  school.  I  was  interested  mainly  in  the 
school's  effort  to  reach  out  a  helping  hand  to 
the  community. 

As  I  sat  in  the  office  Mr.  Munroe,  the 
principal,  was  telling  me  of  the  farm  demon- 


62  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

stration  work  and  of  the  short  course,  which 
is  open  for  three  or  four  months  in  the  winter 
to  all  the  people  of  the  community.  To  this 
short  course  come  farmers  and  farmers' 
wives  and  the  older  children;  they  learn  how 
to  select  seed,  to  breed  stock,  to  drain  the 
soil,  to  grow  better  crops,  to  keep  farm 
accounts ;  they  read  history  and  literature  and 
sharpen  their  wits  in  debating  clubs;  in  the 
wood  shop  and  blacksmith  shop  they  learn  to 
use  tools  in  repair  work  and  in  making  the 
simple  things  that  are  needed  about  the  farm 
and  farm  home ;  they  cook  and  sew  and  learn 
to  make  the  country  home  a  better  place  to 
live  in. 

As  Mr.  Munroe  sat  telling  me  of  these 
things  a  man  came  in  and  was  introduced  as 
"Mr.  Tappio,  one  of  our  demonstration 
farmers."  "Mr.  Munroe,"  I  said,  "will  you 
please  go  on  with  your  work  and  let  me  talk 
with  Mr.  Tappio;  he  is  the  man  I  want  to 
see. 

Mr.  Tappio  is  a  Finn,  about  thirty-five 
years  of  age;  had  gone  through  four  grades 
in  the  public  school ;  had  married  and  had  two 
small  children;  owned  his  farm  and  was 
working  it. 

Turning  to  him  I  said:  "Mr.  Tappio,  will 


A  WHOLE  COMMUNITY  HELPED  63 

you  please  tell  me  how  you  came  to  take  up 
this  farm  demonstration  work?" 

"It  all  began,"  he  said,  "with  my  coming 
into  the  short  course." 

"Then  tell  me  in  detail  just  what  you  have 
got  out  of  it  all." 

"First  of  all,"  he  said,  "the  man  from  the 
school  came  out  and  tested  my  dairy  herd.  I 
was  milking  twenty-four  cows;  he  found  that 
fourteen  of  the  twenty-four  cows  were  not 
paying  for  their  keep." 

"What  did  you  do?" 

"I  sold  them." 

"Did  you  sell  them  to  your  neighbors  to 
milk?" 

"No,  I  sold  them  to  the  butcher.  Then  I 
began  improving  my  herd  by  breeding.  I 
now  have  nineteen  cows,  and  each  one  of 
them  pays." 

"How  do  you  know  each  one  pays?" 

"I  keep  an  account  of  each  cow." 

On  visiting  his  farm  that  afternoon  I  saw 
this  account,  showing  for  each  cow  the  feed, 
the  cost  of  feed,  the  cost  of  labor,  the  amount 
of  milk  given,  the  percentage  of  butter  fat 
and  the  net  gain  or  loss,  week  by  week. 

"Then,"  he  said,  "the  school  taught  me 


64  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

how  to  increase  my  yield  of  corn  by  selecting 
the  seed." 

*'How  do  you  manage  that?" 

''I  have  a  seed  plot.  With  the  best  ears  I 
plant  this  seed  plot.  From  this  crop  I  take 
the  best  ears  for  planting  my  next  seed  plot ; 
then  I  take  the  next  best  for  planting  the  rest 
of  my  corn  crop;  and  what  is  left  I  sell  at 
fancy  price  as  seed  corn.  In  this  way  I  have 
brought  the  average  yield  of  my  farm  from 
thirty-five  bushels  per  acre  up  to  a  little  over 
fifty  bushels  per  acre." 

That  afternoon  when  we  went  into  his 
house  he  apologized  for  the  sacks  of  shelled 
corn  which  lined  two  sides  of  the  sitting  room, 
and  explained  that  the  family  had  been  shell- 
ing the  seed  corn  of  evenings.  I  noticed  that 
each  sack  was  tagged  to  sell  for  $6.00.  I  do 
not  know  just  how  much  it  contained. 

"Then,"  Mr.  Tappio  continued,  "the 
school  planned  a  complete  system  of  drain- 
age for  my  farm.  I  have  drained  one  seven- 
acre  plot,  have  plowed  it  and  have  it  ready 
for  planting." 

"What  did  it  cost  you?" 

"It  cost  $20  per  acre." 

"How  long  will  it  take  this  plot  to  pay  for 
the  draining?" 


A  WHOLE  COMMUNITY  HELPED  65 

"I  can't  say.  They  tell  me  the  first  crop 
should  pay  for  the  draininjg.  When  this  plot 
has  paid  for  itself  I  shall  use  the  money  for 
draining  another  plot;  and  so  on  till  the 
whole  farm  is  drained." 

This  community  lies  within  the  drift  area ; 
small  lakes  are  numerous;  they  cover  the  best 
soil.  On  the  walls  of  one  of  the  classrooms 
I  was  shown  the  blue  print  of  the  drainage 
system  for  Mr.  Tappio's  farm.  The  blue 
print  was  not  only  serving  Tappio  as  a  guide, 
but  also  was  effectively  serving  the  school  as 
basis  for  the  teaching  of  farm  drainage  to 
the  pupils. 

"Then  the  school  through  this  demonstra- 
tion work  is  showing  me  how  to  manage  my 
farming  operations  as  a  whole  so  as  to  cut  out 
the  waste  and  to  increase  my  income.  For 
example,  I  had  no  chickens.  They  showed 
me  that  by  having  chickens  I  could  add  to  my 
income  with  but  little  increase  in  my  expendi- 
tures. I  have  built  a  chicken  barn,  have  laid 
out  some  runs  and  made  a  beginning  toward 
stocking  the  place  with  chickens." 

''In  the  short  courses,"  he  said,  '*I  learned 
to  use  tools.  I  now  do  my  own  repair  work, 
and  make  many  things  about  the  house  and 
the  farm."     In  the  afternoon  he  showed  us 


66  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

his  new  chicken  barn  which  he  had  made  and 
painted  with  his  own  hands.  I  saw  the  wind- 
mill which  he  had  installed.  It  pumps  his 
water,  grinds  his  feed,  saws  his  wood.  He 
took  us  through  his  house  and  showed  the 
tank,  pipes  and  fixtures  which  he  had  installed 
for  lighting  his  house  with  acetylene  gas. 

What  this  school  has  done  and  is  doing  for 
Mr.  Tappio  it  is  doing  for  other  farmers  in 
the  community.  It  was  the  banker  in  town 
who  took  us  out  in  his  automobile  to  see  this 
farm  demonstration  work.  He  is  interested 
in  the  school,  he  said,  because  it  is  making 
business  for  him.  His  business  is  mainly  with 
farmers;  the  school,  he  said,  has  increased 
the  value  of  every  acre  of  land  for  miles 
around;  and  has  greatly  increased  the 
farmers'  deposits  in  his  bank. 

Here  is  at  least  a  most  hopeful  beginning 
toward  the  realization  of  my  conception  of 
what  a  country  school  should  do  in  the  way 
of  helping  the  whole  community;  in  teaching 
the  grown  people  as  well  as  the  children:  in 
getting  its  hand  on  those  fundamental  eco- 
nomic forces  which  underly  all  things  that 
make  for  a  better  individual  and  community 
life. 


VI 


THE  VALUE  OF  A  SOCIAL  SURVEY 
TO  A  COMMUNITY 

Hermann  N.  Morse 

Of  the   Board  of  Home   Missions  of  the 

Presbyterian  Church  Department  of 

Church  and  Country  Life 

We  may  define  the  social  survey  as  the 
collection  and  arrangement,  in  scientific  and 
orderly  form,  of  all  the  information  about 
any  given  community  which  has  immediate 
social  significance  and  constructive  value. 

In  the  study  of  social  institutions  in  the 
country,  particularly  the  church  and  the 
school,  it  is  frequently  an  open  question 
whether  one  should  say  that  they  are  minis- 
tering to  the  country  community  or  that  the 
country  community  is  ministering  to  them; 
that  they  are  rendering  a  service  to  the  com- 
munity by  making  it  more  eflicient,  or  that 
the  community  is  rendering  a  service  to  them 
by  keeping  them  alive.     The  social  survey 


68  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

owes  its  origin  to  this  fact,  that  these  insti- 
tutions are  in  many  cases  unproductive  of 
substantial  good  to  the  community  which 
maintains  them  and  that  their  maintenance  is 
an  unjustifiable  drag  upon  its  resources,  that 
they  must,  in  short,  be  classed  as  luxuries 
which  it  cannot  afford  to  enjoy.  It  is  an 
avowed  attempt  to  bring  social  institutions  in 
the  country  into  some  more  vital  relationship 
to  the  community,  so  that  they  may  justify 
their  existence  by  adding  to  its  productive 
efficiency. 

The  value  of  the  social  survey  hinges  abso- 
lutely upon  its  motive  and  its  method.  Its 
motive  is  immediate  and  constructive  useful- 
ness for  the  building  up  of  the  country  com- 
munity. There  isn't  suggestion  of  pedantry 
here.  Its  uses  are  not  primarily  for  research 
to  give  basis  for  speculation  and  theory. 
Nothing  has  any  place  in  the  social  survey 
whose  interest  is  primarily  archaeological.  It 
aims  to  collect  information  for  use.  It  is  not 
made  for  the  archives,  but  for  the  hands  of 
social  workers  who  will  use  its  results  to 
advantage.  It  can  afford  to  neglect  many 
things  which  are  entirely  true,  but  are  without 
direct  social  significance.  It  is  not  unduly 
concerned  with  the  remote  origins  of  things. 


VALUE  OF  A  SOCIAL  SURVEY  69 

Its  whole  justification  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
is  a  serious  attempt  to  better  a  particular 
community  by  ascertaining  what  are  its  pre- 
vailing conditions  and  needs  by  fixing  atten- 
tion upon  its  pertinent  problems  and  by  indi- 
cating a  way  to  their  solution. 

Facts,  carefully  tested  and  rightly  inter- 
preted, are  the  material  with  which  all  social 
workers  must  deal.  Guesses  and  theories, 
even  a  general  acquaintance  with  the  make-up 
of  a  problem,  will  not  fill  their  place.  The 
forces  of  social  causation  are  more  than  skin 
deep  and  are  not  to  be  determined  by  snap 
judgments.  They  must  be  studied  to  be 
known.  The  survey  is  a  means  of  conserving 
energy  by  locating  problems  and  defining 
issues. 

The  value  of  the  survey  is  also  dependent 
upon  its  methods.  Assuming  the  scientific 
accuracy  of  its  investigations,  which  is  fre- 
quently a  big  assumption,  the  important 
thing  here  is  that  it  works  to  as  great  an 
extent  as  possible  through  local  agencies  and 
by  means  of  local  cooperation.  This  is  partly 
because  without  local  cooperation  it  would 
not  obtain  the  information  it  required;  chiefly 
it  is  because  the  best  way  to  help  people  is  to 
direct  them  how  they  may  best  help  them- 


70  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

selves  and  arouse  them  to  do  so.  The  survey 
awakens  and  informs  the  conscience  of  those 
who  should  be  concerned  over  local  condi- 
tions. The  chief  value  of  many  questions  on 
the  ordinary  survey  blank  lies  in  their  moral 
effect  upon  the  minds  of  those  of  whom  they 
are  asked.  For  example,  the  surveyor  is  far 
less  anxious  to  know  whether  the  weeds  are 
cut  around  the  school  building  and  its 
surroundings  kept  attractive,  than  he  is 
to  implant  in  the  mind  of  some  indifferent 
trustee  the  notion  that  this  would  be  desir- 
able, which  possibly  had  never  occurred  to 
him. 

The  survey  is  dependent  upon  those  who 
live  in  a  community  to  carry  out  the  work 
whose  need  it  points  out.  It  therefore  makes 
use  of  those  who  are  in  the  best  position  to 
do  this  thing,  namely,  the  ministers,  teachers 
and  prominent  farmers.  It  organizes  the 
forces  of  the  community  for  civic  betterment. 
In  doing  this  it  puts  the  emphasis  upon  the 
community  rather  than  upon  the  individual, 
an  eloquent  preachment  for  a  social  gospel. 

It  is  recommended  that  even  in  the  most 
backward  communities  there  are  always  those 
who  dream  dreams  of  better  things.  The 
survey  tends  to  utilize  dreams  by  showing  a 


VALUE  OF  A  SOCIAL  SURVEY  71 

definite  program  to  well-wishers.  Every 
survey  made  by  the  Presbyterian  Department 
of  Church  and  Country  Life  has  resulted  in 
concise  and  constructive  recommendations 
being  made  to  the  community  surveyed.  In 
numbers  of  instances  the  investigators  have 
left  behind  them  organizations  of  workers 
formed  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  bettering 
their  communities  along  the  lines  indicated. 

Finally,  the  survey  is  of  value  in  the  actual 
information  which  it  conveys,  not  only  to 
resident  workers  but  to  those  who  must  deal 
with  similar  problems  elsewhere.  It  thus 
gives  one  community  an  opportunity  to  help 
others.  It  puts  into  the  hands  of  social 
workers  everywhere  a  well-ordered  body  of 
knowledge  which  will  make  it  easier  for  them 
to  interpret  the  conditions  which  they  must 
immediately  face. 

In  summing  up  the  value  of  the  social 
survey,  it  is  just  to  say  that  a  survey  which 
does  not  result  in  the  substantial  betterment 
of  conditions  in  the  community  surveyed  is 
almost  a  total  failure;  while  a  survey  which 
remains  wholly  of  academic  value  and  with- 
out contact  with  vital  problems  anywhere  is 
a  failure  without  any  qualifications.  The  test 
to  be  applied  should  not  be  whether  the  con- 


72  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

elusions  reached  have  universal  validity  or 
whether  they  will  be  accepted  ten  years  hence ; 
but  whether  the  facts  set  forth  are  accurate 
and  verifiable  and  the  deductions  drawn  from 
them  of  immediate  value  for  community 
building. 


VII 
A  METHOD  OF  MAKING  A  SURVEY 

John  Brown,  Jr.,  M.  D. 
International  Secretary  of  County  Work 

I  would  rather  undertake  the  conduct  of 
one  of  these  surveys  in  two  days  than  under- 
take the  telling  about  one  in  ten  minutes. 

I  am  going  to  pass  over  the  value  of  the 
survey  and  go  on  to  the  method  of  these 
particular  surveys  we  have  in  mind.  The 
method  of  these  surveys  is  on  the  campaign 
basis  entirely;  the  same  as  our  financial  cam- 
paign today.  As  in  these  campaigns  quite  a 
little  .preliminary  work  is  necessary;  the  defin- 
ing of  the  area  to  be  included,  the  securing  in 
advance  of  as  many  statistics  as  possible,  the 
lining  up  of  men  to  participate  in  the  survey, 
and  the  charting  of  these  statistics  in  graphic 
form,  the  lining  up  of  a  strong  chairman  for 
the  entire  survey  and  strong  men  as  chairmen 
of  the  various  committees  to  be  appointed. 
The  survey  is  started  by  what  we  call  a  "set- 


74  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

ting  up  meeting."  On  a  certain  evening, 
perhaps  a  Monday  evening,  every  man  in  the 
town,  whether  he  has  any  interest  or  not,  is 
prevailed  upon  to  be  present  if  possible.  The 
meeting  is  not  held  in  a  church  preferably,  or 
where  men  will  be  liable  to  stay  away  because 
they  have  no  particular  interest  in  the  build- 
ing. The  plan  of  the  survey  is  presented. 
Here  we  have  to  break  down  prejudice  and 
explain  the  purpose  and  plan  of  the  survey. 
After  the  plan  is  presented  the  committees 
are  appointed  by  the  chairman.  The  general 
meeting  is  then  adjourned,  breaking  up  right 
there  into  the  sub-committees.  Each  chair- 
man is  given  an  outline  of  the  work  his  com- 
mittee is  expected  to  investigate  in  the  next 
two  days.  Two  facts  are  impressed  upon  the 
committees ;  first,  they  must  present  a  report 
in  writing  based  on  actual  personal  investiga- 
tions by  the  committee.  Second,  a  written 
report  of  recommendations  based  on  what 
they  have  found.  During  the  two  days  inter- 
vening between  the  setting  up  meeting  and 
the  closing  meeting,  these  different  commit- 
tees get  the  information  as  best  they  may  on 
the  particular  phase  they  are  to  investigate 
and  report  upon.  For  instance,  the  com- 
mittee on  school  conditions  that  have  to  do 


METHOD  OF  MAKING  A  SURVEY  75 

with  everything  pertaining  to  health  and 
recreation  of  school  children  visits  the 
schools.  They  spend  hours  in  this  visit,  as 
much  time  as  is  necessary  to  go  to  the  build- 
ing, study  its  construction,  its  location,  its 
heating  and  lighting  apparatus,  sanitary  con- 
ditions, ventilation  and  water  supply,  the 
curriculum  with  reference  to  the  health  of  the 
child,  the  recreational  facilities  and  what 
games  the  boys  and  girls  play  and  whether 
or  not  the  teacher  participates  in  them. 
That  committee  bases  its  report  on  what  it 
finds,  the  idea  being  that  these  men  who  are 
really  on  the  job  themselves  when  it  comes 
to  following  up  the  survey  should  be  made 
alert  and  educated  while  the  survey  is  on, 
someone  going  with  them  to  point  out  what 
is  to  be  looked  for.  Medical  inspection  is 
considered  fully  and  defective  children  ob- 
served. Before  they  have  been  doing  this 
work  very  long  the  committeemen  are  calling 
attention  to  these  things  and  saying,  ''There  is 
a  girl  who  is  a  mouth-breather;  there  is  a  boy 
with  bad  teeth."  This  very  often  paves  the 
way  for  things  we  cannot  get  when  we  go  in 
from  the  outside.  They  will  ask,  "What 
would  be  the  steps  necessary  to  have  medical 
inspection   here?"      In   the    larger    centers, 


76  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

where  men  are  perhaps  more  ready  to  under- 
take these  things,  we  take  a  grade  and  have 
their  local  physicians  examine  them  and  test 
their  eyes,  hearing  and  teeth,  and  the  condi- 
tion of  their  noses  and  throats.  In  one 
instance,  after  examination,  out  of  thirty-six 
children,  we  found  only  eight  normal  in  these 
four  things  alone.  The  people  then  want  to 
know  whether  their  own  boys  and  girls  are 
among  the  defective  ones. 

So  it  is  with  each  of  the  committees;  they 
bring  in  the  reports  on  conditions  found,  then 
the  recommendations  follow.  The  commit- 
tee on  community  hygiene  studies  the  matter 
of  water  supply.  This  does  not  simply  mean, 
Is  there  a  water  system?  But  if  there  is  a 
water  system,  how  many  are  using  it?  One 
town  of  420  homes  had  a  splendid  water 
system  but  when  investigated  it  was  found 
that  only  eighty-six  homes  were  connected 
with  it.  When  the  committee  investigated 
where  the  other  families  were  getting  their 
water  supply  they  found  so  many  unsanitary 
wells  that  it  presented  a  different  aspect 
entirely.  So  with  relation  to  the  conditions 
of  the  yards  and  privies,  disposal  of  sewage 
and  garbage,  manure  piles,  cleansing  of 
alleys  and  streets  of  the  town. 


METHOD  OF  MAKING  A  SURVEY  77 

The  committee  on  amusements  and  recrea- 
tion has  an  important  phase  to  consider, 
having  to  do  with  the  outdoor  and  indoor 
play  and  social  activities  of  the  boys  and  girls, 
young  men  and  women.  This  committee 
studies  the  school  as  a  social  center  and 
invariably  brings  in  a  recommendation  for 
some  kind  of  a  play  center. 

The  matter  of  proper  bathing  facilities 
Is  also  investigated.  Sunday  baseball  and 
saloon  control  are  very  often  encountered. 

The  committee  on  Sunday-schools  and 
churches  discusses  its  whole  work  from  the 
standpoint  of  health  and  recreation.  At  the 
closing  meeting  the  reports  are  usually 
accepted  and  the  recommendations  adopted 
sometimes  with  slight  modifications. 

The  surveys  have  been  productive  in  vari- 
ous ways.  In  some  cases,  each  committee  has 
been  charged  with  bringing  about  the  im- 
provements commended.  The  advantage  of 
such  a  survey  is  to  arouse  local  interest — the 
interest  of  several  of  the  best  men  in  the 
town  in  all  these  things,  as  a  survey  by  the 
men  from  the  outside  cannot.  No  man 
studies  the  thing  he  is  interested  in;  we  do 
not  go  to  a  church  man  and  ask  him  all  about 
the  church.     We  get  lots  of  information  in 


78  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

this  way,  but  we  also  get  men  who  are  not  on 
the  school  board  and  not  school  superintend- 
ents to  study  school  conditions.  We  can  do 
better  work  in  two  or  three  days  than  if  we 
had  a  month.  We  can  get  men  to  give  whole 
blocks  of  time  where  we  could  not  get  the 
same  amount  of  time  spread  out  over  a 
month. 

Results:  The  story  of  this  survey  method 
is  in  the  May  number  of  Rural  Manhood  and 
in  the  November  number  of  The  Playground, 
We  give  play  demonstrations  and  have  union 
church  meetings  where  possible  to  promote 
interest. 

I  have  a  letter  from  one  lad,  requesting 
me  to  order  a  volley  ball.  The  secretary 
writes  that  the  children  are  delighted  with 
their  new  games.  I  have  another  order  from 
a  playground  for  two  basket  balls  with  the 
request  that  we  get  them  as  soon  as  possible 
as  they  are  anxious  to  commence  practice. 

Results  one  man  sent  in:  Public  School 
Athletic  League  organized,  interest  growing 
on  the  part  of  teachers,  action  is  taken  by 
the  county  medical  society  to  support  findings 
of  survey.  Favored  by  the  master  of  the 
Grange  in  the  county.  The  ministers  have 
invited  us  to  take  up  the  matter  of  reporting 


METHOD  OF  MAKING  A  SURVEY  79 

on  health  talks  through  the  committee  on  the 
health  survey  and  other  matters  pertaining 
to  the  health  of  the  pupils  in  ten  districts. 


VIII      ^ 
THE  NEW  RURAL  SOUTH 

James  H.  Dillard 

President  Anna  T.  Jeanes  Foundation  and 

General  Agent  John  F.  Slater  Fund 

Those  of  us  who  are  working  in  distant 
fields  get  inspiration  when  we  come  to  New 
York,  which  is  the  center  of  things,  and  meet 
with  those  who  are  in  the  heat  of  the  fight. 

I  have  very  limited  space,  and  I  am  so 
much  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Jeanes 
Fund  for  country  schools  that  it  is  hard  for 
me  to  talk  about  anything  else.  Perhaps  the 
best  thing  I  can  say  is  something  about  this 
work  which  is  interesting  and  new. 

Before  I  do  that  I  hope  you  will  pardon 
me  if  I  say  just  a  word  in  general  about  this 
whole  question  of  country  life  and  country 
improvement.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  say 
anything  that  has  not  been  said  before  and 
that  is  not  already  in  your  minds,  but  still 


THE  NEW  RURAL  SOUTH  81 

out  of  the  mouths  of  all  of  us  certain  facts 
may  be  established. 

I  do  not  believe  that  anybody  has  any  idea 
about  country  conditions  and  country  life, 
who  does  not  go  there  and  see  them.  No 
report  in  writing  tells  the  story.  I  took  dinner 
just  a  little  while  ago  at  the  house  of  a  sup- 
posedly well-to-do  farmer.  We  had  pork 
cooked  in  two  ways  and  not  done  either  way. 
We  had  biscuits  that  were  raw  in  the  center ; 
we  had  one  kind  of  vegetable,  sweet  potatoes, 
which  were  as  raw  in  the  center  as  were  the 
biscuits;  we  had  an  apology  for  coffee,  sweet- 
ened with  molasses  and  no  milk.  I  asked  our 
host  if  he  did  not  keep  cows.  He  replied  that 
he  had  three  or  four.  He  did  not  seem  to 
be  certain  whether  it  was  three  or  four.  He 
added  that  he  had  not  seen  them  lately. 
This  is  not  an  exaggerated  report.  What  I 
have  described  is  literal  fact.  Do  not  sup- 
pose that  such  cooking  is  all  in  the  South.  I 
have  tramped  in  Massachusetts  and  let  me 
tell  you  that  I  have  seen  just  as  poor  cooking 
in  the  country  in  Massachusetts  as  in  Ala- 
bama. It  is  well  to  come  down  to  such  a 
specific  case.  I  have  asked  myself,  What  can 
be  done  for  this  man  and  his  wife  and  for  his 
little  girl?     One  thing  can  be  done,  we  can 


82  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

send  the  girl  to  a  school  which  will  put  a  dif- 
ferent spirit  in  her.  What  about  him  and 
his  wife?  What  influences  do  they  get? 
What  comes  to  them  from  the  outside? 
They  go  to  church  twice  a  month.  Perhaps 
if  they  could  have  the  right  kind  of  religion 
preached  to  them,  they  might  see  that  reli- 
gion has  something  to  do  with  this  world  as 
well  as  with  the  next.  They  seemed  to  have 
no  reading  matter.  The  only  book  I  saw  in 
the  house  was  a  gaudily  bound  subscription 
book  entitled  "The  Sins  of  Chicago  Society." 
I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
are  three  vital  things  we  must  do  if  we  want 
to  build  up  country  life.  First,  we  must  make 
it  as  easy  as  possible  for  the  people  who  are 
going  to  till  the  soil  to  have  their  own  soil  to 
till  and  not  be  tenants.  How  are  we  to  make 
that  easy?  It  could  be  done  by  a  better 
system  of  assessment.  If  the  lands  were 
assessed  more  in  accordance  with  their  value, 
the  people  who  own  the  great  tracts  of  land 
would  be  more  willing  to  sell  to  those  who 
want  to  use  the  land.  A  vital  point,  let  us 
not  forget,  in  the  improvement  of  country 
life  is  that  the  man  who  tills  the  soil  must 
own  the  soil.  Second,  as  I  have  intimated 
just  now,  we  must  change  much  of  the  char- 


THE  NEW  RURAL  SOUTH  83 

acter  of  the  country  preaching.  This  is  one 
of  those  reforms  that  we  talk  about,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  it  has  been  mentioned 
here  time  and  time  again,  but  there  is  urgent 
need  that  we  try  to  bring  it  about.  There  is 
not  a  man  in  the  United  States  today  who 
holds  so  much  power  in  his  hands  in  the 
way  of  undisputed  influence  as  the  country 
preacher.  We  must  put  it  into  his  head  that 
he  must  preach  to  the  people  that  their  deal- 
ing with  the  things  all  about  them  in  their 
lives  here  is  a  part  of  their  religion.  If  we 
could  do  that  it  would  be  a  tremendous  step 
forward.  Third,  it  is  most  necessary  to  get 
a  better  country  school,  one  which  will  fit 
country  life.  We  talk  about  a  better  country 
school,  but  we  do  not  make  much  headway 
in  getting  it.  We  want  a  country  school  that 
is  going  to  let  the  pupil  see  that  what  he  does 
in  school  touches  the  life  around  him.  It  can 
be  worked  out.  We  want  the  pupil  to  see 
that  school  is  for  something  else  beside  teach- 
ing what  is  the  southern  cape  of  Madagascar. 
We  want  him  to  feel  that  school  touches  also 
the  things  that  will  be  a  part  of  the  life  he  is 
to  lead  now  and  when  grown  up. 

This  question  of  education  in  the  country 
schools  has  to  do  with  the  work  in  which  I  am 


84  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

especially  engaged.  The  Jeanes  Fund  Is 
interesting  In  Its  work.  It  was  founded  by 
the  gift  of  a  million  dollars  from  a  lady  in 
Philadelphia  for  Negro  country  schools. 
The  first  Idea  of  the  method  of  applying  the 
revenue  of  this  fund  was  to  extend  to  the 
country  the  plan  adopted  In  cities,  by  which 
one  teacher  goes  to  several  schools  to  teach 
different  forms  of  manual  training  and  do- 
mestic science.  Then  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
superintendent  of  Henrico  County,  Virginia, 
Mr.  Jackson  Davis,  we  adopted  the  Idea  of 
giving  the  salary  for  a  supervising  industrial 
teacher  for  a  whole  county.  This  plan, 
known  as  the  Henrico  Plan,  has  worked  with 
success  in  over  a  hundred  counties  In  the 
southern  states.  What  we  do  Is  this.  We 
try  to  get  from  such  Institutions  as  Hampton 
or  Tuskegee  a  trained  teacher  who  Is  to 
work  under  the  school  superintendent  and  to 
go  from  school  to  school  In  the  county. 
This  supervising  teacher  Introduces  simple 
forms  of  industrial  work,  such  as  mend- 
ing, sewing,  cooking,  carpentering,  building 
fences  and  helps  In  any  possible  way  to 
improve  the  life  around  these  schools,  work- 
ing always  with  the  idea  of  making  the  school 
a  part  of  the  child's  life.    These  teachers  also 


THE  NEW  RURAL  SOUTH  85 

work  in  the  community,  sometimes  spending 
a  day,  sometimes  two  days  and  sometimes  a 
week,  forming  mothers'  clubs,  getting  the 
men  together  for  school  improvement  and 
extension  of  the  school  term,  and  helping  and 
encouraging  the  local  teachers.  It  is  an 
interesting  plan  and  I  predict  that  it  will  be 
generally  adopted  for  country  schools,  white 
and  colored.  Many  superintendents,  after 
trying  the  plan,  advocate  its  adoption  in  white 
schools  of  the  county  as  well  as  in  colored 
schools. 

In  conclusion  let  me  say  that  I  do  not  know 
when  I  have  heard  of  any  movement  that 
gave  me  more  pleasure  than  when,  some 
years  ago,  I  heard  about  the  movement  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  to 
extend  its  work  into  the  country.  I  think  it 
is  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  splendid 
efforts  toward  the  improvement  of  country 
life.  Everybody  is  inclined  to  say  that  this 
or  that  is  the  greatest  need  in  our  present 
civilization.  It  is  my  firm  conviction  that  for 
our  civilization  today  the  improvement  of  the 
country,  making  the  country  a  better  place  to 
live  in,  is  the  most  pressing  need.  I  am 
speaking  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  country. 
There  are  rich  people  in  the  country,  there 


86  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

are  western  farmers  who  own  automobiles, 
but  I  know  the  country  In  the  South  and  I 
know  it  somewhat  in  New  England,  and  it 
seems  to  me  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
most  vital  of  all  good  activities  are  the  vari- 
ous movements  to  improve  the  country,  so 
that  the  people  will  want  to  continue  to  live 
there  and  not  overcrowd  the  towns. 


IX 


RELIGIOUS   AND   EDUCATIONAL 

COOPERATION  WITH  COUNTY 

AND  STATE  FAIRS 

A.  C.  HURD 

Secretary  of  the  Windsor  County,  Vermont, 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 

If  I  may  diverge  for  a  moment  from  the 
subject  assigned  me,  I  want  to  add  just  a 
word  to  what  Mr.  Stone  has  said — another 
illustration  of  what  teachers  are  doing  in 
Vermont. 

Some  time  before  our  recent  State  Agri- 
cultural Exhibit,  a  teacher  wrote  us  regarding 
a  wayward  boy  in  her  school  whom  she  had 
threatened  to  dismiss.  Before  this  climax 
was  reached,  however,  it  occurred  to  her  that 
possibly  something  in  the  line  of  gardening 
or  agricultural  work  might  reach  that  boy  if 
nothing  else  would.  So  she  secured  some 
seed  and  a  piece  of  land  and  set  the  boy  to 
work.     Presently  she  wrote  us  again,  saying 


88  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

that  she  would  like  to  bring  that  boy  to  the 
State  Agricultural  Exhibit,  if  she  could  be 
entertained  by  our  committee. 

For  a  teacher  to  come  something  over  a 
hundred  miles  at  her  own  expense  for  the 
sake  of  a  boy  whom  she  had  tried  to  disci- 
pline is  certainly  a  promising  indication,  and 
there  are  other  teachers  who  are  also  getting 
the  vision.  They  are  surely  growing  in  num- 
ber, and  she  is  but  one  of  many  who  are  really 
doing  things  that  count. 

I  wonder  just  what  your  attitude  has  been 
in  regard  to  the  county  fair  proposition. 
Some  of  us  feel  that  the  day  of  the  old 
instructive  agricultural  fair  is  past.  We  now 
have  some  mighty  good  state  fairs,  but  many 
of  them  are  far  from  being  what  they  ought 
to  be.  In  the  case  of  the  agricultural  county 
fairs,  there  are  many  agencies  able  to  co- 
operate with  the  management  of  these  fairs 
and  help  to  improve  them  along  various  lines. 
Some  of  us  know  of  the  work  carried  on  by 
county  committees,  such  as  taking  over  an 
afternoon  for  general  athletic  contests.  We 
know  of  many  similar  phases  of  the  work 
that  are  entering  in.  We  know  something  of 
how  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Unions  have  cooperated  on  the  fair  grounds. 


COOPERATION  WITH  FAIRS  89 

with  their  tent  and  their  temperance  talks, 
and  the  like.  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  sug- 
gest what  you  may  do  with  your  fair — I 
hesitate  to  throw  out  any  suggestions  here  for 
fear  that  your  situation  may  not  be  like  ours 
in  Vermont.  Still,  from  what  I  may  say  relat- 
ing to  our  state  fair,  you  may  gain  some 
new  idea  that  will  help  you  in  your  own 
locality. 

About  five  years  ago  the  fair  began  its 
work  in  Vermont.  Our  first  visit  there  con- 
vinced us  that  it  had  overlooked  ordinary 
comforts  for  the  general  public,  for  the 
fair  management,  or  commission,  using  state 
appropriations,  had  failed  to  provide  even  a 
place  to  rest.  We  felt,  in  that  particular 
instance,  we  might  cooperate  as  a  county 
committee  to  supply  some  of  those  things 
until  the  state  fair  got  on  its  feet.  The  result 
is  that  in  recent  years  a  large  tent  has  been 
provided.  A  spacious  building  is  now  in 
sight  as  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  conducted 
during  the  past  five  years.  An  emergency 
hospital  has  taken  care  of  something  like  600 
patients — though  the  plan  was  ridiculed  by 
some  at  the  outset.  One  case  will  illustrate 
its  usefulness.  Not  long  ago,  a  young  fellow 
while  on  the  fair  grounds  came  down  with 


90  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

typhoid  fever;  he  was  some  distance  from 
home,  having  traveled  from  Ohio  with  a  herd 
of  cattle.  We  cared  for  his  herd,  secured  for 
him  a  room  In  the  hospital  and  a  nurse  to  care 
for  him,  attended  to  the  drawing  of  his  pre- 
miums and  other  business.  How  many  times 
he  mentioned  when  he  was  able  to  get  around 
"that  he  had  fallen  among  thieves  In  some 
places,  but  not  at  the  Vermont  State  Fair 
grounds." 

The  County  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation has  proven  to  be  of  service  even  If 
we  had  done  nothing  else  than  provide  for 
that  one  man.  Our  first  ambition  and 
thought  In  providing  this  social  service  work 
was  not  primarily  to  take  care  of  men,  even 
though  we  were  a  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  but  to  provide  some  real  com- 
fort for  the  mother  who  came  lugging  her 
child  If  she  came  at  all,  and  so  a  free  nursery 
was  provided,  with  twenty-five  beds,  where 
three  hundred  children  were  taken  care  of  in 
the  playground  and  nursery.  The  play- 
ground equipment  with  Its  supervision  has 
suggested  possibilities  to  school  teachers  and 
others,  for  school  grounds.  The  rest  tent, 
provided  as  it  has  been  with  all  ordinary 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  equipment,  has  really  become 


COOPERATION  WITH  FAIRS  91 

the  social  center  of  the  fair,  and  we  hope, 
within  another  year,  to  have  a  building  there. 
We  have  no  business  to  bring  crowds  of 
people  together  for  that  or  any  other  activity 
without  providing  some  decent  facilities  for 
the  care  of  those  people. 

Actually,  I  was  visiting  one  Sunday-school 
where  you  could  see  by  the  faces  of  the  chil- 
dren that  they  were  suffering  tortures  in  not 
being  able  to  go  out  to  a  toilet.  We,  in  our 
churches,  ought  to  see  to  it  that  proper  venti- 
lation and  toilets  are  provided,  some  place  to 
wash  hands,  and  do  not  let  us  forget  to  pro- 
vide for  that  mother  who  will  come  in  from 
a  country  home  to  the  agricultural  fair. 
Make  the  fair  attractive  so  she  will  want  to 
come  in,  so  we  will  be  able  to  influence  her  for 
better  things.  Later  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  can  take  up  such  work. 

And  what  has  the  pageant  committee  pro- 
vided for  the  comfort  of  the  public?  Not 
even  a  checking  room  or,  in  some  instances, 
a  place  to  sit  down  without  paying  for  it! 
This  we  find  true  of  many  fairs;  everything 
has  to  be  paid  for.  In  introducing  some 
changes  we  are  going  to  make  it  possible  for 
mothers  to  enjoy  seeing  the  fair  while  their 
children  are  cared  for  under  proper  super- 


92  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

vision.  In  my  four  years  of  work  with  the 
fair  I  have  seen  just  one  man  bring  the  chil- 
dren. Let  us  make  it  possible  for  the  wife 
of  that  poor  farmer  to  enjoy  the  fair  with 
him.  We  are  providing  many  activities  for 
the  men,  but  how  little  is  provided  on  the 
average  agricultural  fair  ground  for  the 
comfort  of  the  women  and  children.  It  has 
so  influenced  the  members  of  one  fair  com- 
mission that  they  are  now  carrying  part  of 
the  expenses,  and,  if  I  understand  the  tem- 
perament of  that  commission  aright,  I  believe 
they  are  going  to  provide  a  suitable  building 
for  the  work.  This  kind  of  Christian  social 
service  has  had  its  influence.  Six  or  eight 
other  fairs  have  followed  its  example.  We 
are  glad  to  see  that  people  are  waking  up  to 
the  fact  that  all  of  these  activities  are  neces- 
sary. So  many  Old  Home  weeks,  pageants, 
etc.,  fail  to  provide  these  ordinary  essen- 
tials— a  clean  place  to  wash  up  and  rest.  Do 
not  forget  to  provide  for  the  comfort  and 
care  of  the  good  farmer's  wife. 

Midways 

I  might  suggest  here  that  a  county  com- 
mittee can  be  of  unusual  service  in  cooperat- 
ing with  the  fair  management  in  other  ways. 


COOPERATION  WITH  FAIRS  93 

Many  are  Inexperienced  In  the  handling  of 
the  midway;  many  times  you  can  suggest 
things  kindly  that  they  will  listen  to.  Some- 
times you  have  to  use  force;  put  on  a  little 
pressure,  as  we  have  had  to  In  Vermont,  I  am 
sorry  to  say.  We  were  able  to  organize  a 
civic  committee  among  the  business  men  and 
leading  farmers  In  our  section  of  the  state; 
they  took  It  upon  themselves  to  see  how  things 
were  being  conducted.  Now,  what  Is  true 
of  Vermont  Is  true  of  other  fairs  In  New 
England,  and  you  and  I  who  are  patronizing 
these  fairs,  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  ourselves 
that  we  do  not  raise  our  voices  against  the 
midway.  The  average  fair  Is  far  from  con- 
tributing what  It  ought  to  contribute  toward 
the  Improvement  of  agriculture.  Is  It  not 
about  time  that  some  of  us  tried  to  raise  the 
standard  if  we  are  going  to  have  these  fairs? 
Let  us  make  them  contribute  something  more 
than  they  do.  The  state  and  county  con- 
tribute, but  how  much  are  they  contributing 
in  the  way  of  agricultural  Improvement? 
Bringing  so  many  people  together  is  really 
worth  while  if  you  provide  instructive  fea- 
tures and  a  decent  midway.  It  has  taken  a 
good  deal  of  effort  and  has  drained  our 
patience  to  the  last  dreg  to  try  to  persuade 


94  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

one  fair  commission  that  they  are  making  a 
dreadful  mistake  in  influencing  crowds  of 
people  with  the  type  of  midway  attractions 
they  have.  Still,  they  throw  up  at  us,  "The 
crowds  want  the  fakirs,  they  want  the  cheap 
shows  and  all  that  sort  of  thing."  We  are 
glad  to  see  at  the  Vermont  State  Fair  a  great 
improvement  along  this  line.  We  are  trying 
to  be  patient  and  trying  to  secure  a  fair 
commission  that  will  cooperate  with  us.  Only 
the  other  day  one  of  the  commissioners  said, 
"The  other  fairs  have  these  things,  why 
should  not  we  ?"  Now  perhaps  it  was  not  the 
business  of  the  County  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  Committee  to  mix  up  in  this 
matter  to  such  an  extent,  but  it  had  to  be 
somebody's  business  and  we  were  glad  to 
make  this  contribution.  We  feel  we  have 
accomplished  more  good  by  first  working 
through  the  public  service  tent,  for  they  feel 
our  motives  are  good  and  that  we  have  the 
best  methods  for  the  improvement  of  the  fair, 
after  we  have  demonstrated,  through  a  pub- 
lic service  equipment,  how  the  general  public 
can  be  served.  If  we  are  going  to  have  this 
type  of  Christian  service  at  one  end  of  the 
fair  grounds,  this  other  work  ought  to 
correspond  with  it. 


PLAY  A  SOCIALIZING  FACTOR  IN 
RURAL  COMMUNITIES 

E.  K.  Jordan 

Secretary  of  the  Dutchess  County,  New  York, 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 

I  have  been  asked  to  give  a  few  concrete 
Illustrations  of  the  sort  of  work  we  have  been 
doing  in  Dutchess  County  In  the  way  of  play 
demonstrations. 

About  a  year  ago  I  was  in  a  small  New 
England  town  with  a  friend,  in  connection 
with  the  Men  and  Religion  Movement  in  that 
section,  and  being  entertained  over  Sunday, 
we  went  into  one  of  the  churches  for  the 
morning  service  and  to  another  one  during 
the  Sunday-school  hour.  It  was  a  very  ordi- 
nary country  church;  the  Sunday-school  was, 
perhaps  for  that  section,  a  very  ordinary  one; 
the  pastor  was  the  only  man  present,  and, 
while  talking  with  him  about  the  school,  my 
friend  looked  around  saying,  "The  thing  that 


96  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

puzzles  me  Is  that  boys'  class  over  there." 
It  was  a  class  of  about  four  boys.  The  pas- 
tor said  there  ought  to  be  more  boys  in  that 
class  and  went  on  to  explain  why  they  were 
not  there.  "That  isn't  the  point,"  my  friend 
replied.  "The  thing  I  am  surprised  about  is 
that  there  are  any  boys  here  at  all.  There 
is  nothing  here  to  attract  them." 

That  is  something  like  the  problems  in  the 
country.  When  you  stop  to  consider  what 
the  country  is  offering  a  boy,  the  wonder  is 
that  there  are  any  there  at  all,  or  that  the 
boys  are  there  a  minute  after  they  can  get 
away.  In  pursuing  one  of  our  plans  for 
improving  conditions  for  the  country  boy,  I 
started  out  in  the  early  spring  to  set  up  a 
more  or  less  systematic  demonstration  of 
plays  and  games  through  the  agency  of 
teachers  of  rural  schools.  These  were  carried 
out  first  by  interesting  the  four  district  super- 
intendents of  the  county.  They  were  inter- 
viewed in  regard  to  the  matter  and  were 
lined  up  on  the  proposition  with  more  or  less 
interest;  two  out  of  the  four  developed  a 
good  deal  of  enthusiasm.  These  superin- 
tendents helped  to  put  us  in  touch  with  the 
teachers'  institutes  of  the  county.  During  the 
early  spring  some  of  these  institutes  were 


PLAY  A  SOCIALIZING  FACTOR  97 

visited,  and  talks  given  to  them  in  regard  to 
the  things  which  we  proposed  to  do  in  con- 
nection with  play  in  the  schools.  A  part  of 
one  of  the  programs  consisted  of  the  con- 
sideration of  three  things:  First,  discussing 
with  them  the  value  of  games.  It  was  not 
difficult  to  get  their  interest  and  to  demon- 
strate to  them  that  games  really  ought  to  be 
an  important  part  of  what  was  going  on  in  the 
school.  Interesting  things  were  brought  out 
in  the  discussion.  One  teacher  had  dispensed 
with  the  recess  because  the  only  recreation 
the  older  boys  knew  was  to  annoy  the  little 
ones. 

The  second  point  was  putting  them  in  touch 
with  books  about  games  and  showing  them 
how  usable  these  would  be. 

Third,  teaching  them  a  simple  calisthenic 
drill  such  as  any  teacher  could  learn  in  a  few 
minutes. 

During  May  and  June  we  undertook  to 
put  into  practice  the  plan  of  meeting  with  the 
school  children  and  teachers,  using  these 
three  different  methods.  First,  we  ran  a  sort 
of  play  picnic  for  a  number  of  schools 
through  the  aid  of  superintendents  and 
teachers,  setting  up  a  play  day  for  all 
the     schools    within     reach,     the     teachers 


98  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

coming  with  their  pupils  and  in  some  cases 
the  trustees  of  the  district  driving  to  this 
central  place  a  team  crowded  with  chil- 
dren from  their  school.  The  pupils  from 
each  school  brought  their  lunch  and  had  a 
picnic  dinner.  Part  of  the  day  was  spent  In 
play  and  the  remainder  in  badge  contests. 
We  reached  a  large  number  of  schools  with 
three  of  these  days. 

Another  plan  we  employed  was  getting  a 
teacher's  agreement  to  close  early  on  some 
particular  day  and  let  us  have  the  whole 
school  for  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  to  give 
such  a  demonstration  of  play  as  was  best 
suited  to  the  children.  An  equally  good  plan 
adopted  was  to  visit  In  succession  as  large  a 
number  of  schools  as  possible  in  one  day, 
giving  an  hour  to  each,  taking  the  district 
superintendent  along  and  notifying  the  teach- 
ers ahead  that  we  were  coming.  We  would 
make  some  explanation  of  what  we  wanted 
to  do,  and  they  would  turn  the  school  over 
to  us  for  an  hour.  We  would  then  give  a 
demonstration  to  the  teacher  and  pupils  of 
games  that  they  could  use.  The  teachers 
were  divided  Into  groups  and  to  each  were 
given  certain  games  best  adapted  to  the  chil- 
dren's  ages.      In  the   conduct   of   all   these 


PLAY  A  SOCIALIZING  FACTOR  99 

hours,  we  made  it  as  much  a  demonstration 
as  possible,  by  trying  to  instruct  the  teachers 
in  the  value  of  games  so  as  to  be  able  to 
conduct  them.  From  the  requests  for  further 
information  and  orders  for  books  and  simple 
apparatus  which  they  have  placed  with  us, 
we  are  sure  that  the  thing  has  taken  root  and 
that  many  teachers  are  beginning  to  have  a 
systematic  play  life  in  connection  with  their 
schools.  We  have  been  pleased  to  find  that 
several  of  the  schools  have  been  purchasing 
adjoining  land  for  playgrounds.  It  would 
seem  that  one  or  two  acres  of  land  purchased 
and  used  as  a  playground  is  a  step  towards 
making  the  school  a  social  center. 

What  we  hope  to  accomplish  another  year 
is  something  like  this.  We  shall  enlarge  and 
develop  our  previous  plan  so  as  to  reach 
people  of  all  ages  in  the  community,  then  by 
using  some  school  as  a  center  for  the  whole 
township,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  pas- 
tors of  the  churches  and  the  district  superin- 
tendents, we  hope  to  be  able  during  the  last 
six  weeks  of  the  school  year  to  start  a  festival 
in  each  town  in  the  county. 


XI 


THE   MORAL  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
VALUE  OF  ATHLETICS 

H.  D.  Maydole 

Secretary    of    the    Camden    County,    New 

Jersey,  Young  Men's  Christian 

Associations 

Those  of  us  who  have  been  boys  remember 
distinctly  how  many  times  we  heard  the  word 
"don't."  It  often  seemed  as  though  it  were 
the  only  word  in  the  vocabulary.  Now  a 
boy's  nature  demands  some  natural  form  of 
expression  and  athletics  seem  to  be  among 
the  very  best. 

This  topic  relates  especially  to  the  country 
community,  and  my  work  is  largely  suburban. 
However,  I  feel  it  to  be  true  that  even  in 
country  communities  our  athletics  in  relation 
to  athletic  meets  and  pubhc  school  picnics 
are  influenced  by  our  universities  and  colleges. 
In  our  own  county  the  young  men  are  under 
the  shadow  of  a  great  university  and  their 


VALUE  OF  ATHLETICS'      ''  101 

Standard  of  athletics  is  influenced  by  this. 
Their  standard  of  measurement  is  that  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Relay  Races.  This  has 
called  for  a  system  devoted  primarily  to  the 
interest  of  the  star  and  the  prospective 
specialist  in  athletics  so  that  the  boys  and 
young  men  who  have  really  needed  the 
training  and  practice  have  been  disregarded. 

Our  problem  became  acute  in  the  annual 
athletic  meet  between  the  various  organized 
groups  for  county  championship.  It  finally 
threatened  to  kill  entirely  the  proper  spirit  of 
this  work.  This  problem  was  solved  very 
largely  for  us  when  Dr.  Brown  came  in  with 
the  proposition  that  we  use  the  50  per  cent 
badge  standard  for  our  meet. 

We  were  agreeably  surprised  with  the  way 
our  business  men,  who  were  related  to  our 
work,  saw  this.  They  immediately  recog- 
nized its  efficiency  in  giving  every  boy  a  fair 
chance.  The  boys  who  had  been  delegated  to 
the  side  lines  to  cheer  for  the  stars  were  to 
have  an  opportunity  to  assert  themselves  and 
give  vent  to  the  expression  which  was  waiting 
for  its  chance.  Of  course  we  met  with  oppo- 
sition. Immediately  the  fellows  who  were 
the  favorite  stars  and  had  a  trail  of  support- 
ers raised  a  protest.     While  they  were  pro- 


•  fo:f^    *  •  ^*S  '^f HE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

testing  the  boys  in  the  smaller  towns  were 
beginning  to  get  ready  and  work.  Here  was 
the  chance  to  be  freed  from  an  athletic  serf- 
dom which  had  bound  them. 

In  one  of  these  towns  where  a  group  had 
been  organized  for  only  a  few  months,  and 
where  there  was  almost  desperate  need  for 
such  work,  much  interest  was  taken.  One 
man  who  was  closely  related  to  the  group  as 
their  leader  would  be  met  at  the  train  on  his 
way  home,  night  after  night,  by  these  boys, 
besieging  him  to  time  them  as  they  ran  certain 
distances  measured  by  telegraph  poles.  At 
last  he  borrowed  a  stop  watch  from  one  of 
his  friends,  so  he  could  do  the  timing  prop- 
erly and  give  them  correct  records. 

After  our  meet  was  over  and  we  had  done 
about  a  day's  figuring,  we  found  that  the 
Association  had  won  the  county  champion- 
ship. Ninety-five  and  five-tenths  per  cent  of 
their  entire  membership  had  participated  in 
the  meet,  while  the  towns  with  the  stars,  on 
account  of  lack  of  loyalty,  reported  with  as 
low  as  30  per  cent. 

Any  town,  either  country  or  suburban,  can 
work  on  this  basis  with  satisfaction.  With  us 
it  meant  that  many  of  our  best  men  were  will- 
ing to  cooperate  when  they  saw  the  advantage 


VALUE  OF  ATHLETICS  103 

in  this  form.  The  details  were  so  arranged 
that  five  of  the  best  men  we  could  muster  were 
selected  and  worked  with  a  group  of  boys 
during  the  meet,  going  with  them  from  event 
to  event,  keeping  careful  records  and  assist- 
ing. One  of  these  men  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement  in  his 
own  town  and  was  tied  up  with  a  group  of 
older  fellows.  He  soon  began  to  get  into 
touch  with  them  personally  and  found  out 
some  things  about  their  manner  of  living,  etc. 
Some  boys  were  telling  others  how  much  beer 
they  drank  in  a  dry  town.  Another  man 
wrote  each  one  of  the  thirty  or  more  in  the 
group  he  was  with  after  the  meet,  commend- 
ing them  for  their  manly  attitude,  thus 
establishing  a  definite  relationship  with  them. 

In  the  town  that  won  this  championship, 
when  it  was  announced  at  their  regular  meet- 
ing, one  of  the  boys  in  speaking  about  it  that 
evening  said  to  the  others,  ''Fellows,  I  do  not 
know  what  you  think  about  it,  but  I  think  if 
we  are  going  to  hold  this  cup  it  means  clean 
living  and  if  we  are  going  to  live  clean, 
it  means  for  some  of  us  to  stop  smoking 
cigarettes." 

There  is  now  a  more  wholesome  respect 
for  clean  athletics  in  this  town  and  it  has 


104  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

established  this  organization  there.  At  an 
appointed  time  the  entire  group  assembled, 
with  the  people  of  the  town  present,  the  cup 
was  presented  by  one  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  county  and  was  accepted  in  a  neat  speech 
by  a  boy  thirteen  years  old.  Short  talks  were 
given  by  other  men  commending  the  group 
and  emphasizing  the  value  of  their  loyalty. 
They  were  impressed  that  clean  thinking  and 
clean  living  would  be  essential  to  the  holding 
of  this  cup  when  it  came  to  the  test  another 
year.  Some  of  these  boys  have  taken  a  stand 
for  the  Christian  life. 

In  other  towns,  where  they  lost  out  because 
of  a  selfish  attitude  and  lack  of  loyalty,  they 
have  awakened.  One  boy  who  saw  his  error 
in  opposing  it  came  and  said,  *'I  have  seen 
my  mistake  and  if  I  can  do  anything  now  to 
train  the  fellows  in  our  town  for  next  year, 
I  want  to  do  it." 

It  meant  a  re-direction  of  thought  toward 
these  things  on  the  part  of  some  of  our  men 
and  it  has  assisted  in  the  formation  of  a  club, 
which  provides  golf  and  every  kind  of  ath- 
letics without  Sunday  golf  or  baseball. 

This  form  for  public  schools  and  Sunday- 
schools  affords  unusual  advantages  for  com- 
ing together  in  competition,  at  the  same  time 


VALUE  OF  ATHLETICS  105 

giving  every  boy  a  chance  to  do  his  best  and 
get  credit  for  what  he  does,  so  that  it  con- 
serves the  interest  of  the  group.  I  know  of 
no  better  system  that  offers  safeguards 
against  the  difficulties  and  objections  of  the 
old  form.  I  am  not  a  walking  delegate  for 
this  particular  form,  but  I  am  interested  and 
believe  in  it  with  all  my  heart. 

I  taught  a  class  of  boys  in  a  small  Sunday- 
school  in  a  country  community  last  spring  and 
told  them  about  a  corn  growing  contest.  It 
was  fitting  and  in  keeping  with  the  lesson  just 
before  Easter  and  through  this  discussion  I 
established  the  most  splendid  contact  with  a 
group  of  boys.  Possibly  it  was  not  just 
exactly  orthodox  to  some,  but  to  me  and  to 
those  boys  it  has  meant  much.  Let  us  not 
forget  that  boys  are  thinking  of  these  things, 
and  that  because  they  are  foremost  in  their 
minds,  through  them  we  reach  the  real  boy. 
The  boy  who  needs  this  the  most  is  the  one 
who  is  backward  and  indifferent,  and  we  owe 
him  an  opportunity  to  express  himself  as 
others  do,  even  though  at  first  he  may  not  be 
interested. 

Note. — At  this  point  the  conference  adjourned, 
and  the  appointed  commission  met  for  consideration 


106  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

of  the  matter  that  was  discussed  with  a  view  of  pre- 
paring special  papers  under  specified  titles  which 
were  assigned  to  the  members  of  the  commission,  and 
which  are  herewith  submitted  as  the  result  of  the 
work  of  this  conference. 


XII 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SOCIAL 
SURVEY 

T.  N.  Carver 

Department  of  Economics,  Harvard 
University 

The  whole  scheme  of  a  social  survey  may 
very  well  be  entitled  "What  a  minister  ought 
to  know  about  his  parish,"  or  possibly  we 
might  go  a  step  further  and  say  that  if  to 
"know  thyself"  is  the  height  of  wisdom  for 
the  individual,  that  also  may  be  true  of  the 
community,  and  the  social  survey  is  the  means 
by  which  the  community  may  come  to  know 
itself;  but  whether  we  take  that  point  of  view 
of  it  or  not,  I  would  like  to  suggest  the  pos- 
sibility that  every  graduate  of  a  theological 
seminary  be  required,  in  place  of  a  thesis  on 
a  scholastic  subject,  to  write  a  survey  or  get 
up  a  survey  of  some  typical  parish  or  com- 
munity. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrine  that 
education  in  general  must  be  directed  more 


108  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

and  more  toward  study  of  the  field  for  which 
the  students  are  being  trained.  In  our  public 
schools,  I  think,  we  are  beginning  to  learn 
that  education  is  something  more  than  educa- 
tional psychology.  You  need  to  do  some- 
thing before  you  study  the  internal  workings 
of  the  pupil;  you  need  to  look  over  the  field 
and  see  where  men  are  needed,  in  what  occu- 
pation they  are  most  needed,  what  kind  of 
talents  are  needed  and  after  that  has  been 
discovered,  then  it  is  time  to  study  educa- 
tional psychology  in  order  to  find  out  what 
kind  of  material  you  have  with  which  to 
supply  those  needs. 

This  doctrine  of  theological  education  is 
merely  a  phase  of  that  general  doctrine  of 
education;  we  must  first  know  the  field  and 
what  is  needed  in  the  field  for  which  these 
students  are  being  trained.  After  we  have 
discovered  that,  then  we  may  look  to  the 
psychology  of  the  students  and  make  psy- 
chology thereafter  the  basis  of  our  educa- 
tional theory,  so  that  we  may  know  what  kind 
of  materials  the  theological  school  is  hand- 
ling in  order  the  better  to  provide  for  the 
field.  Likewise  study  the  characteristics  of 
your  materials.  After  you  have  gotten  your 
plan  you  must  know  what  kind  of  a  structure 


THE  SOCIAL  SURVEY  109 

you  want  to  build.  I  have  also  been  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  hereafter  we  are 
to  have  a  new  test  of  the  effectiveness  of  a 
church  or  of  the  success  or  the  failure  of  a 
religious  revival.  I  predict  that  hereafter, 
a  religious  revival  will  be  written  down  as  a 
failure,  no  matter  how  it  may  increase  church 
attendance  or  attendance  upon  prayer  meet- 
ing, or  the  contributions  toward  the  support 
of  a  church,  unless  it  raises  the  price  of  land 
in  that  community,  unless  it  reduces  the  death 
rate  in  that  community,  unless  it  increases 
the  crops  of  that  community. 

Suppose  we  were  as  wise  on  the  subject  of 
work  as  we  are  on  the  subject  of  music.  It 
took  the  prophet  to  learn  that  all  good  music 
was  religious  music  and  all  musical  instru- 
ments were  religious.  Possibly  we  will  event- 
ually learn  that  all  useful  work  is  religious 
work,  then  we  may  expect  that  as  a  result  of 
a  religious  revival  a  doctor  may  get  religion 
and  if  he  does  he  will  then  give  himself  with 
a  new  zeal  and  enthusiasm  to  the  study  of 
medical  science  and  to  the  practice  of  the 
medical  art.  That  will  result  in  the  allevia- 
tion of  human  suffering  and  the  lowering  of 
the  death  rate.  Encouraging  such  religion 
as  that  would  be  a  very  good  way  to  reduce 


110  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

the  death  rate  and  any  right-minded  person 
must  approve  such  a  religion.  Whenever  a 
farmer  gets  religion  he  will  give  himself  with 
a  new  zeal  and  enthusiasm  to  the  study  of 
agricultural  science  and  the  practice  of  his 
productive  art,  then  the  wider  the  spread  of 
such  a  revival,  the  more  good  farmers  we 
would  have.  Encouraging  such  a  rehgion  as 
this  would  be  one  good  way  of  solving  the 
high  cost  of  living.  So  with  the  business 
man,  when  he  gets  this  kind  of  religion  he 
will  throw  himself  into  the  subject  of  business 
efficiency  with  a  new  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  It 
would  mean  expansion  of  business;  the  start- 
ing of  new  enterprises;  more  employment  for 
laborers  and  business  school  graduates.  En- 
couraging a  religion  such  as  this  will  go  a 
long  way  towards  solving  the  labor  problem. 
When  we  test  the  efficiency  of  a  religion 
by  methods  similar  to  those  suggested 
here  for  the  efficiency  of  a  country  school, 
when  we  can  really  once  apply  that  kind 
of  a  test,  we  will  be  supporters  of  reli- 
gion in  proportion  as  we  are  patriotic.  The 
point  which  Mr.  Maydole  brought  out — the 
young  boys  training  for  athletes  concluding 
that  they  must  give  up  cigarettes  in  the  in- 
terest of  their  contests — suggested  to  me  that 


THE  SOCIAL  SURVEY  111 

when  we  get  a  sufficiently  broad  idea  of  what 
religious  work  is,  we  may  discover  that  any 
kind  of  sin  is  disloyalty  to  the  community. 
For  that  boy  to  have  continued  smoking 
cigarettes,  thereby  endangering  the  success  of 
his  team,  would,  of  course,  have  been  dis- 
loyalty to  his  team. 

Suppose  we  get  this  idea  of  religion;  the 
religious  life  is  the  efficient  life.  It  means  we 
are  going  to  do  everything  better  than  we 
did  before.  Then  you  can  make  your  appeal 
to  men  in  general  as  you  could  have  made  the 
appeal  to  these  boys — but  not  if  you  are 
living  a  life  which  interferes  with  your  effi- 
ciency. Therefore,  in  proportion  as  you  are 
patriotic,  in  proportion  as  you  are  loyal  to 
the  community,  you  must  be  religious,  you 
must  give  up  any  of  your  irreligion  or  sin,  for 
sin  is  the  dissipation  of  human  enegry  and 
righteousness  is  the  economy  of  human 
energy.  When  we  appeal  to  other  men  in  the 
community,  in  the  interests  of  loyalty  and 
patriotism,  to  live  the  life  which  will  contrib- 
ute to  the  utmost  to  the  success  of  the  com- 
munity, then  patriotism  and  religion  will  go 
hand  in  hand.  Until  that  comes  and  so  long 
as  people  cannot  see  the  connection  between 
religion  and  patriotism,  between  religion  and 


112  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

loyalty,   you   will   find   some   very   patriotic 
people  who  have  no  use  for  religion. 

The  Need  of  a  Study  of  the  Field 

If  I  were  looking  for  a  guide,  the  first 
thing  I  should  Insist  upon  would  be  some  one 
who  knew  the  country  through  which  I  was 
to  be  guided.  I  should  also  be  interested  in 
his  character  and  companlonableness,  but, 
lacking  knowledge  of  the  country,  these  other 
qualities  would  count  for  very  little.  Or,  if 
I  were  In  need  of  a  physician,  the  first  thing 
I  should  be  anxious  about  would  be  the  accu- 
racy and  extent  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  body  and  the  diseases  which 
prey  upon  it.  If  he  lacked  knowledge,  I 
should  place  very  little  value  upon  his  moral 
and  social  qualities.  I  should  also  apply  the 
same  test  to  a  spiritual  or  a  social  adviser. 
He  who  aspires  to  leadership  In  social  service 
or  religious  awakening  should  expect  to  be 
judged  by  this  standard. 

However,  every  religious  educator  en- 
gaged in  training  men  for  religious  work 
agrees  that  knowledge  is  the  first  requisite. 
The  only  question  is,  what  kind  of  knowledge. 
When  the  subjective  side  of  religion  was 
emphasized  by  the  world  at  large,   It  was 


THE  SOCIAL  SURVEY  113 

natural  that  the  chief  emphasis  in  religious 
education  should  be  placed  upon  the  spiritual 
nature  of  man  and  its  relation  to  the  spiritual 
universe.  Now  that  our  Interest  is  directed 
toward  the  objective  side  of  religion,  it  is 
equally  natural  that  the  chief  emphasis 
shall  eventually  be  placed  upon  the  economic 
nature  of  man  and  his  relation  to  the  eco- 
nomic environment,  both  material  and  social. 
The  natural  course  of  training,  from  this 
point  of  view,  is  a  thorough  study  of 
economics. 

For  the  religious  worker,  particularly  the 
worker  In  the  country,  this  training  should 
not  only  be  broad  and  extensive,  but  it  should 
be  focalized  and  applied  intensively  to  a 
narrow  field.  To  this  end  a  survey  of  a 
parish  should  be  undertaken  by  every  candi- 
date for  the  ministry  before  he  is  turned  loose 
to  practise  upon  a  parish.  Instead  of  a  thesis 
upon  some  problem  of  textual  criticism  or 
philological  exegesis,  he  should  be  required, 
before  graduation  from  a  divinity  school,  to 
make  a  thorough  study  of  a  single  parish, 
village  or  township,  acquainting  himself 
thoroughly  with  its  history,  its  social,  eco- 
nomic, moral  and  sanitary  conditions,  its 
problems   and  its   opportunities.      The    fact 


114  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

that  he  has  done  this  for  one  parish  would 
be  one  evidence  of  his  fitness  to  assume  minis- 
terial responsibilities  in  some  other  parish. 
This  should  be  as  rigidly  required  of  the  can- 
didate for  the  rural  ministry  or  for  county 
work  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion as  a  knowledge  of  human  anatomy  is 
required  of  a  candidate  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession. The  making  of  a  survey  would  not 
be  so  very  unlike,  in  educational  principle,  to 
the  dissecting  of  a  cadaver  in  a  medical 
school. 

After  all  is  said  that  can  be  said  about  the 
psychology  of  leadership,  the  fact  remains 
that,  whatever  other  qualities  are  necessary, 
clear  and  definite  knowledge  of  the  field  and 
the  work  to  be  done  in  it  are  the  first  requi- 
sites. We  may  insist  upon  vision,  but  unless 
the  vision  includes  a  clearly  defined  percep- 
tion of  the  work  to  be  done  and  the  way  to 
do  it,  the  possessor  of  the  vision  is  only  a 
visionary.  We  may  insist  upon  courage,  but 
unless  the  courageous  person  knows  the  best 
way  to  begin  a  needed  piece  of  work  he  is 
only  a  blind  guide.  We  may  insist  upon 
initiative,  but  unless  the  initiator  knows 
exactly  what  he  is  initiating  and  why,  he  may 
be  leading  in  a  circle  instead  of  a  straight 


THE  SOCIAL  SURVEY  115 

line.  The  point  to  remember  is  that  knowl- 
edge— not  abstract  or  general  knowledge, 
but  concrete  and  definite  knowledge — is  the 
first  requisite  of  a  leader.  Not  only  must  the 
knowledge  be  definite  and  concrete,  it  must 
apply  to  the  specific  problems  before  the 
community. 

A  group  of  boys  had  lost  their  way  in  the 
woods.  They  were  wandering  about  in  a 
bewildered  sort  of  fashion,  no  one  knowing 
in  which  direction  to  go.  There  was  plenty 
of  courage,  of  initiative  and  general  knowl- 
edge in  the  group.  The  one  thing  needful 
was  definite  knowledge  of  the  way.  Suddenly 
one  boy  recognized  a  landmark  and  said,  "I 
know  the  way."  He  had  courage,  initiative 
and  general  knowledge,  but  no  more  than 
many  others.  He  had  never  been  recognized 
as  a  born  leader,  but  in  this  situation  he 
became  a  leader  by  the  only  kind  of  divine 
right  now  recognized  in  the  world,  by  right 
of  superior  fitness  for  leadership,  not  leader- 
ship as  such,  but  leadership  out  of  the  specific 
difficulty  of  time  and  place. 

This  is  the  only  kind  of  leadership  which 
counts  for  much.  Many  of  our  rural  com- 
munities are  in  a  bewildered  state.  They 
reahze  that  something  is  wrong  but  do  not 


116  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

seem  to  know  exactly  what,  nor  how  to  get 
out  of  the  difficulty.  The  man,  woman  or 
boy  who  can  go  into  such  a  community  and 
say,  "I  know  the  way,"  and  convince  them 
that  he  does,  will  become  the  leader  by  divine 
right.  Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington  tells  of 
an  old  colored  farmer  of  the  South  who, 
after  hearing  a  lecture  on  the  new  agriculture, 
came  up  to  the  lecturer  and  said,  "Mr.  Wash- 
ington, Ah  knows  what  you  says  is  right  and 
Ah  wants  to  do  what  you  says,  but  Ah  don' 
know  what  to  do  fust."  It  was  not  until  Mr. 
Washington  was  able  to  tell  the  southern 
negroes  how  to  begin,  "what  to  do  fust," 
that  his  real  leadership  began.  The  man  or 
woman  who  can  tell  any  rural  community 
how  to  begin,  "what  to  do  fust,"  will  achieve 
an  equally  beneficent  leadership. 


XIII 

THE  NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADER- 
SHIP IN  RURAL  LIFE 

Edwin  L.  Earp 

Chair  of  Sociology,  Drew  Theological 
Seminary 

The  facts  that  have  been  brought  out  by 
men  in  the  field  and  the  discussions  of  the 
past  two  years  have  brought  us  to  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  need  of  trained  leadership  in  rural 
life,  and  we  have  had  ample  demonstration 
of  what  a  trained  leader  can  do;  we  have  had 
presented  to  us  the  problem  of  coordination 
of  the  four  great  institutions  that  have  to  do 
with  rural  life — that  is,  the  country  church, 
the  country  school,  the  Sunday-school,  and 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  or 
its  county  work  department.  The  county 
work  department  is  so  new  I  shall  speak  of 
the  other  three  only,  but  it  has  already 
entered  into  the  work  as  an  important  factor. 

We  know,  in  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said 
about  the  Sunday-school,  the  rural  school^ 


118  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

and  the  country  church,  that  all  three  of  these 
institutions  have  been  in  the  country  districts 
some  of  them  for  over  a  hundred  years. 

Last  year  I  raised  the  question  as  to  what 
had  been  done  in  all  these  years  in  a  certain 
country  community,  and  said  that  no  effort 
had  been  made  to  meet  the  facts  which  we 
had  discovered  in  a  short  survey.  I  want  to 
say  this  to  encourage  you,  that  the  country 
preacher  of  my  own  denomination  in  that 
rural  district  who  had  been  appointed  again 
for  the  third  year,  and  of  whom  the  people 
said  he  had  not  "get-up"  enough  in  him  to 
eat  their  fried  chicken,  died  recently.  I  sup- 
pose we  do  not  want  to  see  too  many 
funerals,  but  we  do  want  to  see  in  that  rural 
life  of  which  we  are  all  a  part,  because  we 
depend  upon  it  for  our  resources,  some  sort 
of  a  change  in  leadership  that  will  awaken 
us  and  help  us  to  secure  the  very  best  kind 
of  a  rural  life  from  the  standpoint  of  eco- 
nomic success  as  well  as  religious  and  social 
outlook. 

Coming  to  the  point  of  leadership;  how 
can  we  coordinate  all  the  educational  forces 
we  have  that  look  towards  leadership  in  these 
three  institutional  phases  of  rural  life? 
Now,  most  of  our  teachers  for  the  country 


NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADERSHIP  119 

schools  are  trained  in  our  colleges  and  nor- 
mal schools.  We  have  seen  what  splendid 
results  can  come  through  one  man  or  one 
woman  having  the  rural  mind  and  an  eco- 
nomical plan  for  community  life,  religious 
Impulse,  and  moral  vision  to  see  what  the 
community  needs.  We  have  learned  with 
Interest  how  a  country  church  out  in  Morris 
County,  New  Jersey,  could  have  all  the  para- 
phernalia and  successful  display  of  a  depart- 
ment in  an  agricultural  college. 

A  country  school  in  Minnesota  that  was 
not  organized  on  the  agricultural  plan  has 
been  giving  a  short  course  which  we  have 
found  only  In  some  of  our  state  Institutions 
in  the  East.  We  have  had  the  same  thing 
demonstrated  by  two  institutions  of  the 
three;  we  hardly  expect  the  Sunday-school 
to  do  it,  but  wherever  we  have  leadership  in 
these  institutions  the  trained  leadership  of  the 
school,  for  example,  is  secured  in  the  colleges 
or  the  normal  schools.  But  have  we  reached 
the  sources  of  trained  leadership  in  these 
schools?  Are  we  getting  extra  biblical 
material  on  rural  life  in  our  graded  systems 
today?  The  rural  Sunday-schools  are  not 
adopting  the  graded  system.  They  do  not 
know  what  It  means.     Can  we  not  see  to  It 


120  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

that  the  sources  of  our  training  for  Sunday- 
schools  are  under  skilled  leadership?  We 
are  going  to  use  those  helps  in  the  country 
as  long  as  we  can  raise  money  enough  to  get 
them  into  the  rural  schools.  We  are  going 
to  follow  verbatim  the  questions  necessary 
to  the  system.  They  are  not  going  to  study 
the  lessons  independently;  once  in  a  while 
you  will  find  a  teacher  who  will  do  it,  but 
you  go  into  the  publishing  houses  of  some 
parts  of  the  country  and  you  will  see  some 
of  these  people  that  make  up  what  we  call 
the  "dope."  Can  we  not  see  to  it  that  they 
put  in  some  of  these  factors  that  lead  to  the 
social  mind  and  develop  these  people  in  social 
sympathies?  These  lesson  helps  may  be 
illustrated.  Dr.  Stroup  gave  us  an  illustra- 
tion of  four  farmers  who  lived  on  four 
corners  of  a  cross  road  in  Ohio.  He  dis- 
covered that  all  four  were  driving  five  miles 
to  a  milk  station  every  morning  carrying 
two  cans  of  milk  each  to  the  secretary,  while 
one  man  could  have  carried  eight  cans  of  milk 
with  one  horse  and  let  the  others  stay  at  home 
and  do  something  else,  so  that  in  a  coopera- 
tive way  they  might  have  done  a  lot  of  work. 
Now  why  could  not  somebody  have  pointed 
out  to  those  men  the  idea  of  cooperation  with 


NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADERSHIP  121 

each  other,  rather  than  Individual  indiffer- 
ence? They  were  not  competing.  They  had 
been  following  this  course  for  years  and 
years  but  did  not  see  that  cooperation  was 
worth  developing.  I  am  a  country  bred  boy 
and  know  what  that  means. 

Take  the  rural  free  delivery — and  by  the 
way,  an  institution  which  we  thought  would 
socialize  the  farmers  has  isolated  them. 
They  used  to  go  at  least  once  a  week  to  the 
country  store ;  we  stopped  them  by  delivering 
their  mail  at  their  gates.  We  have  been 
giving  the  farmer  his  religion  in  a  little 
schoolhouse  on  the  old  circuit  system,  on  the 
R.  F.  D.  plan,  instead  of  establishing  what  I 
call  the  social  center  system  and  then  If  a 
woman  gets  a  new  Easter  bonnet,  or  if  a  man 
gets  a  new  side-bar  buggy  (for  even  such 
worldly  motives  can  be  sanctified  to  holy 
uses) ,  let  them  drive  to  the  center  where  they 
can  show  them  off,  and  there  you  can  put  in 
a  man  who  can  be  supported  in  such  a  center, 
a  leader  in  rural  life  who  will  amount  to 
something,  rather  than  putting  in  a  man  on 
the  R.  F.  D.  plan  and  starvation  wages. 

The  third  point  is  the  leadership  for  the 
church  Itself;  I  have  spoken  of  Sunday-school 
leadership,  of  day  school  leadership,  and  now 


122  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

for  the  church  itself  we  must  go  back  to  the 
sources  from  which  this  leadership  is  drawn. 

I  have  not  seen  in  the  curriculum  of  any 
theological  seminary  a  course  on  the  rural 
church  and  the  country  problem.*  For  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  Drew  Theological 
Seminary,  where  I  happen  to  be  a  teacher  this 
year,  I  have  a  seminar  of  ten  men  who  are 
studying  the  country  church  and  the  rural 
problem.  The  other  day  a  lecturer  asked  for 
hands  up  where  the  men  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  country;  including  our  president  emeri- 
tus, one  hundred  men  of  us  were  in  a  class- 
room listening  to  the  lecture  and  eighty-five 
hands  went  up  out  of  the  one  hundred,  and 
yet  for  all  these  years  (we  have  had  our 
forty-fifth  anniversary)  not  a  course  has  been 
given  for  the  training  of  young  men  for 
country  work. 

We  are  coming  to  it  because  our  denomi- 
nation is  preeminently  a  rural  denomination. 
It  has  more  country  churches  than  city  or 
village  churches.  I  think  I  could  mention 
other  denominations  where,  for  the  first  time, 
they  are  beginning  to  give  courses  for  trained 
leadership  in  country  work.  The  County 
Work    Department    of    the    Young    Men's 

*Oberlin,  I  am  told,  is  offering  such  a  course. 


NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADERSHIP  123 

Christian  Association  has  men  who  have  been 
brought  up  in  our  churches,  trained  in  our 
colleges,  and  have  been  many  of  them  suc- 
cessful Sunday-school  teachers  or  they  would 
not  have  been  put  on  the  job,  and  they  are 
going  into  these  communities  and  are  giving 
a  new  impulse  to  the  young  life  there  through 
all  these  avenues  of  service  that  are  repre- 
sented here  today.  What  a  splendid  coordi- 
nation we  would  have  if  we  could  line  up  the 
forces  of  our  churches,  our  Sunday-schools 
and  our  day  schools  in  cooperation  with  this 
institution  which  is  interdenominational.  If 
you  can  give  it  a  chance  through  its  summer 
conferences  and  through  its  winter  confer- 
ence gatherings,  to  bring  together  these  peo- 
ple in  all  these  centers  and  to  give  them  that 
information  that  we  are  getting  here  which 
gives  us  the  social  outlook  and  creates  in  us 
what  we  need  so  often  even  in  our  profes- 
sional work,  it  will  develop  a  broader  social 
consciousness  and  social  sympathies,  that  will 
help  each  man  that  is  on  the  job  to  make  this 
a  better  country  for  all  of  us  to  live  in. 

What  Makes  a  Leader? 

In  this  discussion  we  are  interested  par- 
ticularly in  rural  leadership,  and  the  answer 


124  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

to  this  inquiry  will  have  reference  only  to 
such.  It  is  of  course  necessary  to  keep  in 
mind  the  different  vocations  in  which  rural 
leadership  is  especially  needed:  as,  for 
example,  in  the  church,  in  the  school,  in  the 
County  Work  Department  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  and  in  all  other 
voluntary  organizations  for  the  cooperative 
action  of  the  whole  community  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people  as  a  whole,  as  well  as  for 
the  individual  in  special  need. 

We  mean  by  a  leader  not  merely  the  man 
who  is  ahead  of  those  who  are  following, 
for  that  may  be  true  and  yet  the  group  may 
not  be  getting  anywhere,  or  even  be  headed 
for  any  definite  goal.  But  we  mean  rather  a 
man  who  has  experience  and  vision  so  that 
he  can  not  only  see  the  needs  of  the  people 
and  show  them  a  better  way,  but  also  a  man 
of  practical  skill  and  untiring  zeal  stimu- 
lated by  a  constructive  imagination  and  the 
dynamic  sense  of  human  needs;  who  actually 
gets  people  to  do  something  for  their  own 
betterment  as  well  as  for  the  uplift  of  the 
whole  community. 

The  factors  of  leadership  are  as  follows: 
( I )  a  chance  to  express  the  adolescent  im- 
pulse to  do  something;  (2)   ability  to  sense 


NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADERSHIP  125 

and  perceive  human  needs;  (3)  a  construc- 
tive imagination;  (4)  engineering  skill  or 
tact  in  avoiding  social  friction;  (5)  a  per- 
sistent purpose  to  win  in  a  good  cause.  We 
will  now  take  up  these  factors  of  rural  leader- 
ship and  amplify  them  in  the  order  in  which 
they  have  been  stated. 

A  Chance  to  Express  the  Adolescent  Impulse 
to  Achieve 

I  have  in  mind  now  a  young  man  from  one 
of  the  southern  states  who  is  acknowledged 
to  be  a  leader  in  modern  rural  life  work  who 
started  his  career  at  the  age  of  sixteen  by 
being  given  a  chance  to  teach  a  Sunday-school 
class  in  a  country  church  where  the  majority 
of  the  pupils  were  older  than  he ;  later  he  was 
given  the  superintendency  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  at  the  age  of  seventeen;  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  went  to  a  preparatory  school, 
and  at  twenty-eight  graduated  from  college. 
He  would  never  have  developed  leadership 
in  any  good  cause  had  he  not  been  given  a 
chance  in  early  adolescence  to  do  something. 
Even  at  twelve  he  did  a  man's  work,  plowing 
his  six  rows  of  corn  in  turn  like  the  rest. 

Functional  psychology  confirms  this  point 


126  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

of  view  with  respect  to  leadership.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  our  educational  system 
hitherto,  in  the  rural  schools,  in  the  college 
and  in  the  theological  seminaries  has  edu- 
cated men  away  from  the  rural  field,  not 
purposely  but  as  a  matter  of  mental  adjust- 
ment. When  we  used  to  go  on  a  'possum 
hunt  in  my  boyhood  days,  as  I  remember, 
the  leader  was  always  a  young  man  who  had 
been  on  a  'possum  hunt  before  and  by  actual 
experience  knew  how  to  lead.  So  for  every 
department  of  organized  endeavor  for  rural 
betterment  today,  there  must  be  given  young 
men  in  the  country  a  chance  to  express  this 
adolescent  impulse  to  achieve  and  it  must  be 
given  deliberately  in  every  case,  whether  by 
Sunday-school,  Church,  Grange,  Farmers' 
Club,  County  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation or  what  not. 

Ability  to  Sense  and  Perceive  Human  Needs 

A  second  factor  to  be  emphasized  in  this 
discussion  is  the  ability  to  know  the  needs 
of  the  community  in  a  sympathetic  and 
intelligent  way. 

A  real  leader  in  rural  life  can  make  a 
social  survey  of  his  community  without  even 


NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADERSHIP  127 

giving  evidence  to  the  casual  observer  that 
he  is  engaged  in  such  a  complex  undertaking. 
He  can  readily  see  the  lack  of  cooperation, 
the  results  of  isolation  and  a  suspicious  indi- 
vidualism, the  product  of  generations  of  such 
isolation,  or  lack  of  community  solidarity. 
He  can  readily  perceive  the  economic  basis 
of  many  of  these  human  ills  and  trace  the 
social  and  spiritual  evils  to  their  most 
important  cause. 

He  can  not  only  sense  the  needs,  but.  If  a 
leader,  he  will  see  through  them  to  their 
causes,  and  thus  be  able  to  intelligently  direct 
to  available  resources  for  their  treatment  and 
cure. 

A  Constructive  Imagination 

A  real  leader  has  also  the  power  to  con- 
struct a  plan  by  which  men  can  work  toward 
achievement.  He  is  able  to  build  up  a  com- 
munity structure  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
before  they  have  actually  achieved  results. 
Take  for  example  a  successful  country  min- 
ister who  has  upon  his  study  walls  a  map  of 
his  parish,  with  the  problems  and  needs  all 
charted — this  man  has  taken  the  first  con- 
structive step  in  showing  his  people  how  they 


128  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

can  get  together.  So  must  the  leader  In 
rural  life  today  arouse  the  Imagination  of  the 
farmer  to  see  the  relative  greatness  of  our 
rural  domain,  and  its  tremendous  significance 
as  the  resource  field  for  the  supply  of  the 
populous  cities  of  the  world.  Thus  will  be 
given  dignity  to  the  toil  of  the  men  and 
women  In  our  vast  rural  domain. 

Engineering  Skill  in  Avoiding  Friction 

Still  another  factor  that  constitutes  rural 
leadership  is  that  skill  which  enables  a  man 
to  keep  at  work  with  various  groups  that, 
because  of  individualism  and  class  conscious- 
ness, are  often  In  conflict  Instead  of  coopera- 
tion. In  other  words,  it  is  the  skill  to  get 
team  work.  I  remember  once,  when  a  boy 
on  the  farm,  seeing  a  great  steam  thresher 
drawn  by  four  horses  stuck  In  the  mud  on  a 
hill,  and  I  remember  the  skill  with  which 
another  farmer  with  his  team  hitched  on  and 
pulled  it  out  and  up  the  hill  by  getting  the 
eight  span  to  pull  steadily  together  without 
jerks  and  without  geeing  and  hawing. 

The  rural  leader  should  have  the  skill  to 
unite  for  community  work  the  church,  the 
school,  the  grange  and  all  other  organiza- 


NEED  OF  TRAINED  LEADERSHIP  129 

tions  when  some  great  occasion  demands  that 
they  all  pull  together  for  the  benefit  of  the 
community. 

A  Persistent  Purpose  to  Win  in  a  Good  Cause 

The  last  and  not  the  least  factor  is  per- 
sistent purpose.  Leadership  can  never  count 
for  much  unless  it  really  gets  the  people 
somewhere.  I  recall  a  little  country  church 
near  a  little  village  surrounded  by  a  fairly 
prosperous  farming  district  that  had  closed 
its  doors  for  a  year  because  of  lack  of  inter- 
est by  the  people  in  paying  the  salary  of  an 
efficient  pastor.  One  young  man,  a  farmer, 
and  the  village  shoemaker  got  together  and 
determined  to  hold  a  Sunday-school  in  that 
church  building  even  if  only  a  dozen  people 
could  be  persuaded  to  cooperate.  And  as  a 
result  of  persistent  effort  and  a  masterful 
purpose,  carried  out  for  a  period  of  two 
years,  that  whole  community  was  revolution- 
ized and  nearly  a  hundred  adults  were  con- 
verted and  made  permanent  members  of  the 
church. 

So  with  all  forms  of  community  leader- 
ship— to  succeed  there  must  be  added  to  all 
the  other  requisite  factors  this  indomitable 


130  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

purpose  to  carry  to  successful  issue  the  cause 
we  have  undertaken. 

The  time  to  pull  and  push  hardest  is  when 
the  load  is  nearest  the  top  of  the  hill.  This 
is  the  supreme  test  of  successful  leadership, 
to  get  your  team  to  pull  the  load  over  every 
break  in  the  hill  of  human  uplift. 

These,  then,  are  to  me  the  most  important 
factors  in  the  make-up  of  a  real  leader  in  the 
country  community  life.  How  we  are  to 
make  such  leaders  would  require  another 
paper  equal  in  length  to  the  above.  The 
colleges  of  agriculture,  the  County  Work 
Department  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  the  theological  seminaries  in 
some  instances,  and  in  many  states  the 
departments  of  education  and  agriculture  are 
seeking  to  solve  this  problem  and,  in  a 
measure,  too  little  known  by  the  general 
public,  are  succeeding. 


XIV 
HOME-MADE  LEADERS 

D.  C.  Drew 

Secretary  Y.  M.  C.  A.  County  Work, 

Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island 

Many  different  plans  are  advocated  for 
the  solution  of  the  rural  problem,  but  the  one 
element  common  to  every  plan  is  the  need  of 
new  leaders  and  of  better  leaders  in  the  local 
rural  community.  The  home-made  leader  is 
the  man  in  the  village  or  on  the  farm  who 
accepts  some  local  responsibility  for  com- 
munity uplift.  The  college  professor,  the 
home  missionary  agent,  the  county  and  state 
secretaries  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  all  others  promoting  rural 
progress  from  without  the  country  community 
are  not  in  this  article  regarded  as  home-made 
leaders.  Every  plan  promoted  by  these 
national  leaders  of  rural  life  must  be  finally 
tested  for  its  usefulness  by  its  efficiency  in 
stirring   up    and   guiding   these    home-made 


132  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

leaders.  This  fact  indicates  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  this  subject. 

What  causes  a  man  to  undertake  com- 
munity leadership  ?  The  very  same  influence 
which  induces  a  man  today  to  assume  the 
responsibilities  of  leadership  has  been  work- 
ing in  the  hearts  of  men  from  the  earliest 
times.  The  prophets  of  old  gave  as  their 
credential  for  utterance  the  fact  that  they  had 
seen  a  vision.  The  vision  impelled  these  men 
to  undertake  great  superhuman  tasks  in  an 
evil  age.  The  vision  which  these  men  saw 
was  that  of  the  need  of  mankind  and  how 
their  talents  could  be  used  for  its  uplift.  The 
vision  compelled  them  to  accept  responsi- 
bility, or,  in  the  words  of  Isaiah,  "Here  am 
I,  send  me."  The  vision  of  St.  Paul  also  led 
naturally  to  the  thought,  "Necessity  is  laid 
upon  me ;  yea,  woe  is  unto  me,  if  I  preach  not 
the  gospel."  Although  these  men  exerted  a 
national  and  international  influence,  the  very 
same  principle  is  repeated  in  the  life  of  the 
modern  man.  First  comes  the  vision  of  the 
need  of  the  community  and  the  part  which  the 
individual  may  take  in  meeting  the  need;  and 
second,  the  willingness  to  follow  where  the 
vision  leads. 

In  the  great  work  of  the  discovery  and 


HOME-MADE  LEADERS  133 

enlistment  of  unpaid  social  leaders  within  the 
rural  community  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  has  been  a  pioneer.  Church 
boards  and  school  supervisors  have  sent  men 
into  the  community  to  become  leaders,  but  it 
remained  for  the  Association  to  have  suffi- 
cient faith  in  the  men  now  residing  in  the 
small  localities  to  make  its  whole  program, 
difficult  as  It  is,  depend  absolutely  upon  these 
very  men.  The  county  secretary  is  primarily 
a  discoverer  of  leaders  and  is  a  man  with  such 
clear  perception  of  the  needs  of  young  men 
that  he  communicates  this  vision  to  others. 
Some  local  men  receive  almost  Instanta- 
neously the  vision  of  their  life  interpreted  In 
service  to  young  men.  Other  men  demand 
many  Infallible  signs  to  prove  that  the  work 
which  Is  suggested  by  the  Christian  Associa- 
tion secretary  is  worthy  of  the  personal  sacri- 
fice which  it  involves.  Right  here  is  the 
critical  point  In  making  a  home-made  leader. 
If  the  local  man  sees  a  clear  vision  of  the 
work  to  be  done  then  the  results  are  satis- 
factory. 

The  experience  of  T.  B.  Lanham,  County 
Secretary  of  Medina  County,  Ohio,  Is  dupli- 
cated by  nearly  every  county  secretary.  He 
says:  "I  know  of  no  better  way  of  enlisting 


134  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

men  as  leaders  than  that  of  a  personal  con- 
versation with  them.  This  is  sometimes 
slow  and  tedious,  but  I  believe  that  it  is  the 
best  way.  For  instance,  I  have  one  man  on 
our  field  today  whom  I  tried  for  four  years 
to  tie  up  as  a  leader,  believing  that  if  we  could 
get  this  man  under  our  work  in  the  town  in 
which  he  lived  there  was  no  question  about 
its  success.  We  blundered  along  and  kept 
things  going  in  a  manner  for  this  period  of 
time.  This  man  told  me  repeatedly  that  if 
he  took  on  any  additional  work  he  would 
have  to  give  up  his  job.  He  is  a  man  who 
has  a  very  important  position  and  is  drawing 
a  salary  of  $5,000  a  year.  I  never  lost  an 
opportunity  to  drop  in  and  spend  a  few 
minutes  with  him,  telling  him  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  a  leader  of  young  men  and  boys, 
and  how  sadly  in  need  the  community  was  of 
such  leadership.  I  finally  got  him  to  agree 
to  give  one  night  a  month,  and  he  accepted 
the  chairmanship  of  our  local  board  of  direct- 
ors. Today  we  have  the  best  work  ever  in 
the  history  of  this  organization,  and  this  man 
is  giving  one  night  a  week,  besides  extra 
things  that  he  does  for  the  Association." 

If  the  secretary  knows  exactly  what  to  do 
and  how  to  do  it,  and  has  the  genius  to  com- 


HOME-MADE  LEADERS  135 

munlcate  the  vision  in  his  own  heart  to 
another  man,  he  will  usually  accept  the  work 
which  he  is  asked  to  do.  Every  volunteer 
worker  who  really  accomplishes  much  in  his 
community  comes  to  the  point  of  the  Apostle 
Paul  and  says,  "Woe  is  me  if  I  do  not  this 
thing."  The  secretaries  who  have  been  most 
successful  are  those  who  have  conscientiously 
employed  the  divine  element  in  their  work. 
O.  B.  Read,  Burlington  County,  N.  J.,  says: 
"I  have  yet  to  be  disappointed  in  a  leader  who 
was  enlisted  on  the  basis  of  its  being  the  will 
of  God  for  him  in  service."  The  loyalty  of 
the  hundreds  of  Association  leaders  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  held  true  by  the  reli- 
gious motive. 

Of  course  it  is  assumed  that  a  secretary 
will  ask  only  those  men  who  have  the  qualities 
which  are  fundamental  for  leadership  among 
young  men.  H.  D.  Maydole  of  Camden 
County,  N.  J.,  looks  for  men  with  initiative, 
some  originality,  willingness  to  be  led  and 
trained,  willingness  to  sacrifice,  loyalty  to  the 
work,  energy,  enthusiasm,  devotion  to  duty, 
and  with  love  for  boys. 

Occasionally,  with  almost  no  direction 
from  sources  outside  the  rural  community, 
some  individual  works  out  a  broad  construe- 


136  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

tlve  plan  of  work.  Such  a  man  was  Oberlin, 
who,  without  precedents  or  encouragement 
from  those  outside  of  his  mountain  hamlet, 
accomplished  a  great  historic  feat.  Through- 
out the  country,  here  and  there,  exceptional 
leaders,  single-handed,  without  knowledge  of 
technique,  have  wrought  great  things.  Such 
an  example  is  furnished  by  a  woman  on  the 
tip  of  Cape  Cod.  She  saw  the  vision  of  the 
tremendous  need  among  the  young  people  of 
the  community,  heeded  this  vision,  and  with- 
out even  so  much  as  hearing  of  the  names  of 
Fiske  and  Hall,  developed  along  scientific 
lines  activities  among  boys  and  girls  which 
revolutionized  the  social  and  intellectual 
ideals  of  the  young  people. 

If  cases  like  this  were  the  rule,  long  ago 
the  rural  problem  would  have  been  solved, 
but,  unfortunately,  even  those  who  receive  a 
great  vision  of  need  often  undertake  to  meet 
it  by  methods  which  are  sure  to  fail.  For 
instance,  in  thousands  of  communities  today 
it  may  be  safely  asserted  men  and  women  are 
planning  to  work  out  the  social  redemption 
of  boys  and  girls  chiefly  through  rooms  open 
nightly  for  social  enjoyment  with  no  thought 
of  an  adequate  program  or  the  development 
of  leaders.     These  plans  almost  universally 


HOME-MADE  LEADERS  137 

fall  after  the  first  year.  It  is  apparent  then 
that  something  besides  an  impelling  vision 
and  a  willingness  to  work  is  usually  necessary 
for  any  guarantee  of  results.  Educational 
systems  have  long  since  discovered  this  and 
in  many  states  there  is  a  plan  of  compulsory 
supervision  of  all  public  schools  whereby 
every  rural  school  is  under  the  guidance  of 
some  man  who  has  traveled  the  path  of  rural 
education.  The  churches  have  discovered 
the  need  of  supervision  and  in  those  denomi- 
nations whose  system  does  not  demand  super- 
vision for  all  churches,  home  missionary  sec- 
retaries are  appointed  to  supervise  the  rural 
church.  If  supervision  is  necessary  for 
churches  and  schools  which  have  behind  them 
years  of  experience  and  thousands  of  prece- 
dents, how  much  more  important  it  is  for 
unpaid  social  work  in  a  rural  community  to 
have  an  even  more  adequate  plan  of  super- 
vision. 

The  county  secretary,  therefore,  gives  his 
attention  to  the  supervision  of  these  workers. 
This  he  does  by  personal  visits,  giving  the 
information  and  working  plans  necessary  for 
intelligent  work.  This  is  a  tedious  task  and 
the  results  are  not  uniform,  so  that  periodi- 
cally  county   secretaries   have  thought   that 


138  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

highly  organized  courses  on  the  psychology 
of  leadership,  conducted  by  experienced 
teachers  in  pedagogy,  are  necessary  in  the 
proper  training  of  social  leaders.  Few 
courses  have  ever  been  arranged.  Conse- 
quently there  is  a  feeling  of  depression  on  the 
part  of  some  of  the  employed  officers  that 
they  are  not  living  up  to  their  responsibilities 
of  leader  training.  There  seems  to  be  a 
decided  movement  against  this  conception 
today.  Experience  in  county  work  has 
proven  that  the  most  effective  way  of  leader 
training  is  the  intimate  contact  of  the  leader 
with  a  secretary  and  the  conferences  of  the 
various  leaders  in  the  county  doing  similar 
work. 

Read  of  New  Jersey  says,  "One  of  the  best 
remedies  for  an  indifferent  or  discouraged 
leader  is  to  take  him  over  to  visit  another 
group  where  the  leader  is  delivering  the 
goods."  F.  S.  Knapp  of  Hillsdale,  Michi- 
gan, says,  "I  believe  that  nothing  can  take 
the  place  of  fellowship  with  men  doing  simi- 
lar tasks  in  keeping  up  a  spirit  that  will 
bring  sure  success."  Close  contact  with  the 
other  leaders  in  the  county  and  with  the 
county  secretary  will  help  keep  a  fresh  vision 
of   the   work.      W.    Gospel   of    St.   Joseph 


HOME-MADE  LEADERS  139 

County,  Michigan,  says,  *'The  best  way  to 
keep  a  man  on  the  job  is  to  supply  him  with 
the  material  by  which  to  make  his  meetings 
successful." 

Right  here  is  where  most  of  the  secretaries 
have  failed.  Better  than  any  highly  organ- 
ized theoretical  knowledge,  then,  is  first  of 
all  the  imparting  of  the  vision  to  local  men; 
second,  the  assigning  of  a  definite  task;  third, 
presenting  in  a  concrete  way  the  methods 
which  will  insure  success  in  the  task;  fourth, 
by  giving  such  general  inspiration  through 
conferences,  personal  contact,  suitable  books 
and  pamphlets  as  will  enable  a  man  to  be 
successful. 

We  have  to  this  point  considered  the  effect 
which  a  secretary  may  exert  upon  an  indi- 
vidual in  a  country  community.  It  is  now 
important  to  consider  how  the  effort  which 
is  thus  promoted  be  made  a  part  of  a  larger 
plan  for  community  uplift.  Too  often  men 
have  undertaken  work  among  boys  or  young 
men  as  a  purely  private  enterprise,  with  little 
or  no  reference  to  the  attitude  of  the  com- 
munity. Men  have  undertaken  work  with 
boys  in  precisely  the  same  way  that  they 
might  start  in  raising  chickens.  When  prob- 
lems arose  and  they  had  gone  to  the  extent 


140  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

of  their  knowledge  they  gave  up  the  work 
precisely  as  they  would  give  up  the  chicken 
business  if  it  was  inconvenient  or  unprofitable. 

For  this  reason  it  is  very  important  that 
whenever  the  Christian  Association  secretary 
enters  a  community  he  first  receive  the  good 
counsel  of  those  who  intimately  know  the 
community  life.  Whether  or  not  a  board  of 
directors  be  definitely  organized  is  not  so 
important,  but  every  effort  for  the  community 
which  an  outside  party  inaugurates  should 
have  the  approval  of  the  pastors,  school 
teachers  and  influential  people  in  the  com- 
munity. This  is  the  only  way  of  keeping 
work  perpetual  in  a  town.  This  also  serves 
as  a  distinct  guide  for  any  leader,  for  he 
now  has  the  judgment  of  other  men.  It  also 
makes  the  work  which  a  leader  may  start  a 
permanent  factor,  for  he  may  through  sick- 
ness or  other  emergencies  be  unable  to  con- 
tinue ;  but  if  the  work  which  he  has  attempted 
is  a  part  of  the  program  of  the  community, 
his  successor  is  chosen  and  the  work  proceeds. 

There  is  another  reason  also  why  the  more 
progressive  forces  of  each  community  should 
be  definitely  committed  to  the  plan  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  that 
is  in  order  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  sec- 


HOME-MADE  LEADERS  141 

retary.  In  process  of  years  an  Intelligent 
committee  of  a  town  should  be  able  to  look 
out  for  the  individual  efforts  of  men  serving 
on  committees  and  taking  special  responsi- 
bility with  groups  of  boys.  As  these  local 
committee  men  develop  in  strength  the  sec- 
retary has  more  time  to  develop  other 
activities. 


XV 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN 
COUNTRY  LIFE 

M.  A.  HONLINE 

International   Secretary,    Religious  Work 
Department 

Man  a  Religious  Being 

Few  subjects  have  received  more  attention 
in  recent  years  than  that  of  religious  educa- 
tion, and  today  it  is  being  studied  from 
practically  every  standpoint,  and  while  very 
much  still  remains  obscure  and  uncertain, 
great  progress  has  been  made  and  the  lines 
for  further  advancement  have  been  clearly 
marked  out.  We  have  already  gone  far 
enough  to  be  convinced  that  "man  is  a 
religious  animal,"  endowed  with  religious 
instincts,  equipped  with  the  capacity  for 
becoming  religious  and  has  a  natural  tendency 
toward  a  religious  life. 

That  every  child  born  into  this  world  of 
ours   brings   with  him   certain   religious   in- 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  143 

stincts  and  capacities  as  an  integral  part  of 
his  original  endowment,  is  just  as  apparent  as 
the  manifestation  of  those  other  inherent 
powers  which  have  their  seat  in  his  intellec- 
tual nature,  and  are  equally  definite  and 
strongly  marked.  For  years  educators  have 
been  telling  us  that  the  chief  business  of  edu- 
cation is  to  develop  aright  all  inherent  capaci- 
ties. Now  religion  is  one  of  those  inherent 
capacities,  for  man  possesses  the  latent 
power  to  become  religious  and  to  live  a  reli- 
gious life.  Therefore  the  right  development 
of  the  child's  religious  instincts  and  capacities 
must  necessarily  be  an  essential  part  of  the 
educational  process. 

The  fact  that  man  comes  into  this  world 
bringing  with  him  a  religious  faculty  or 
nature  as  a  vital  part  of  his  original  endow- 
ment, carries  with  it  the  possibility  as  well 
as  the  need  of  appropriate  training  and 
development.  Every  new-born  child  enters 
this  life  potentially  perfect,  no  matter  on 
what  part  of  this  planet  he  first  sees  the  light; 
nothing  is  added  during  the  years  he  may  be 
permitted  to  live  beyond  the  original  endow- 
ments bestowed  upon  him  by  nature.  It 
would  be  no  more  possible  to  add  a  new  organ 
to  his  body  than  to  add  a  new  faculty  to  his 


144  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

soul.  Religion  is  not  an  external  process, 
something  grafted  on  to  the  soul  in  later  life, 
it  is  there  at  birth;  it  is  neither  an  incident 
nor  an  accident,  it  is  the  most  universal  and 
persistent  fact  in  human  history.  Helen 
Keller,  deprived  of  the  senses  of  sight  and 
hearing,  tells  us  that  God  spoke  to  her  many 
times,  long  before  she  knew  His  name  or  had 
been  made  conscious  of  His  existence  by 
those  who  sought  to  teach  her.  Religion  is 
truly  the  "life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man." 
Science  is  in  exact  agreement  with  the  state- 
ment of  the  Apostle  John  that  there  is  a 
light  which  lighteth  every  man  coming  into 
the  world.  At  no  time  since  man  made  his 
appearance  on  this  earth  has  God  left  Him- 
self without  a  witness  in  the  heart  of  human 
beings. 

This  doctrine  that  religion  is  one  of  man's 
primary  endowments  finds  many  ardent  advo- 
cates outside  the  so-called  "religious  schools." 
The  historian,  Guizot,  said  that  if  education 
was  to  be  truly  good  and  socially  useful  it 
must  be  fundamentally  religious.  Benjamin 
Kidd  in  "Social  Evolution"  declares  religion 
to  be  "the  central  feature  in  the  development 
of  human  society."  Equally  strong  is  the 
statement  of  Professor  Alfred  Marshall  in 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  145 

his  "Principles  of  Economics"  when  he  says 
that  "The  two  great  forming  agencies  of  the 
world's  history  have  been  religion  and  eco- 
nomics." The  framers  of  the  Northwest 
Ordinance  of  1787  believed  that  "Religion, 
morality  and  education  are  necessary  to  good 
government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind." 

The  history  of  any  people  is  largely  a 
history  of  their  religion.  The  modern 
writers  of  ancient  history  devote  a  very  large 
portion  of  their  texts  to  a  careful  survey  of 
the  religious  beliefs  of  these  early  peoples, 
for  they  have  come  to  realize  that  a  people's 
religion  is  the  most  potent  factor  in  their 
entire  national  life.  The  great  temples, 
tombs  and  pyramids  of  ancient  times  are  but 
silent  witnesses  to  the  religious  spirit  which 
virtually  dominated  those  departed  civiliza- 
tions. Art,  literature  and  music,  in  every 
stage  of  man's  upward  march  in  civilization, 
have  received  their  inspiration  from  religion. 
Some  one  has  said  that  "Medieval  art  is 
medieval  theology  fossilized."  For  the  last 
eighteen  hundred  years  the  Christian  religion 
has  been  one  of  the  chief  propelling  forces 
in  the  development  of  the  Germanic  races. 

Now  if  this  is  all  true,  if  the  child  has  a 
religious  nature,  endowed  with  the  capacity 


146  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

to  live  a  religious  life,  and  if  education  is  a 
unitary  process  whose  chief  concern  is  to 
develop  aright  all  innate  powers  which  the 
individual  brings  with  him  into  this  world, 
to  whom  are  the  youth  of  this  generation  in 
America  to  apply  for  religious  training  and 
development  which  the  educator  tells  us  is 
so  imperative  in  any  system  of  education? 

In  every  civilized  country  three  great  edu- 
cational agencies  are  to  be  found — the  home, 
the  state  and  the  church.  Here  in  America 
specific  religious  instruction  is  banished  by 
law  from  our  public  school  system,  due,  very 
largely,  to  our  exaggerated  idea  of  democ- 
racy on  the  one  hand,  with  a  multiplicity  of 
Protestant  religious  denominations  on  the 
other,  thus  reducing  us  to  an  educational  con- 
dition practically  unknown  to  any  other  Chris- 
tian nation  in  the  world,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Republic  of  France.  In  our  country  the 
state  does  not,  and  possibly  cannot,  include 
religious  training  in  its  program  of  studies. 
The  home,  because  of  certain  factors  which 
have  entered  into  our  family  and  community 
life,  is  neglecting  this  most  important  phase  of 
education.  Professor  Walter  S.  Athearn 
has  well  said  that  "The  American  home  tends 
to    become    a    cheap    tavern    where    father. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  147 

mother  and  children  meet  to  sleep  and  eat, 
and  then  go  their  separate  ways,  each  finding 
comradeship  away  from  home.  From  the 
early  homes  where  everything  was  done  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  children,  we  have  come 
upon  homes  where  very  little  is  done  for  or 
by  the  children."  The  average  American 
home  is  doing  very  little  today  in  the  way  of 
religious  training  of  its  own  children. 

The  state  cannot  include  rehgious  training 
in  its  program,  and  the  home  does  not  include 
it  in  its  widely  increased  program  of  numer- 
ous activities,  therefore  the  Church  must 
include  it.  That  part  of  the  Church  which 
has  set  itself  the  task  of  religious  education 
is  the  Sunday-school.  .  The  facts  are,  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  youth  of  this 
country  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Sunday-school 
teacher.  It  is  said  on  good  authority  that  87 
per  cent  of  all  persons  who  join  the  Church 
today  come  as  a  result  of  Sunday-school 
teaching,  and  that  85  per  cent  of  that  number 
unite  with  the  Church  during  the  "teen  age." 

The  Sunday-school  an  Educational  Institution 

We  should  never  fail  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  Sunday-school  is  a  real  s-c-h-o-o-1. 
Like  the  public  school  its  problems  are  edu- 


148  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

catlonal  problems.  Its  field  of  instruction, 
its  courses  of  study,  its  text-books,  questions 
of  organization  and  administration,  time  and 
place  of  meeting,  all  these  are  educational 
problems  and  must  be  considered  in  the  light 
of  recognized  educational  principles. 

1.  Its  Function,  As  an  educational  insti- 
tution its  function  is  to  teach,  not  to  preach; 
to  instruct,  not  to  amuse  and  entertain.  It  is 
not  intended  primarily  for  worship,  although 
worship  should  have  a  very  important  place 
in  all  its  services.  Its  true  task  is  instruction, 
and  if  it  fails  here  it  can  never  fulfill  its  high 
calling  or  justify  its  right  to  exist.  The  spe- 
cific task  of  every  school,  no  matter  on  what 
day  of  the  week  it  holds  its  sessions,  consists 
in  imparting  right  information,  forming 
worthy  habits,  discovering  latent  powers, 
arousing  desirable  interests,  discouraging  evil 
tendencies  and  inspiring  high  ideals.  System- 
atic development  rather  than  formal  in- 
struction should  be  the  aim  of  every  school, 
regardless  of  its  place  or  time  of  meeting. 

2.  Its  Subject.  Its  subject  is  religious 
truth,  not  dogmatic  theology,  philosophy, 
physical  science  or  even  sociology.  These 
things  are  all  exceedingly  helpful  as  illustra- 
tive material,  in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  suffi- 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  149 

clently  familiar  with  them  to  utilize  them  in 
such  a  way  as  to  contribute  to  the  one  end  in 
view,  but  after  all  they  are  only  secondary 
material  and  must  be  treated  as  such.  In 
religious  instruction  that  which  is  natural 
ought  to  precede  that  which  is  spiritual,  for 
truth  becomes  a  real  asset  in  knowledge  just 
in  proportion  to  its  assimilation.  In  other 
words,  the  pupil  must  come  into  possession  of 
religious  truth  through  an  intellectual  pro- 
cess, before  the  truth  can  come  into  posses- 
sion of  him  with  sufficient  power  to  become  a 
dominating  factor  in  his  life.  In  presenting 
these  truths  the  teacher  must  never  forget 
that  the  child's  mind,  as  well  as  his  body, 
demands  nourishment,  and  that  these  de- 
mands are  orderly  because  they  follow  laws 
which  the  Creator  of  us  all  has  seen  fit  to 
implant  within  the  child's  nature.  His  pre- 
sentation of  truth  must  fit  into  this  divine- 
human  program. 

3.  Its  Text-book.  The  Sunday-school 
text-book  is  the  Bible,  not  a  lesson  quarterly, 
helpful  as  that  may  be.  The  teacher  should 
never  substitute  the  quarterly  for  the  Bible, 
the  function  of  the  quarterly  is  to  aid  the 
teacher  in  answering  questions  which  Bible 
study  raises  but  does  not  answer.    The  quar- 


150  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

terly  is  for  use  in  the  preparation  of  the  les- 
son; it  should  then  be  left  at  home  and  the 
Bible  taken  to  the  class  for  use  during  the 
recitation  period. 

The  permanent  source,  guidance,  and  in- 
spiration of  all  religious  education  is  the 
Bible.  It  is  the  abiding  belief  of  many  who 
are  competent  to  judge  that  Christianity,  in 
the  centuries  to  come,  will  stand  or  fall  with 
the  teaching  of  the  Bible  to  the  young  of  this 
present  generation.  Whether  or  not  we 
believe  the  state  should  engage  in  systematic 
biblical  instruction,  the  fact  remains  to  con- 
front us  that  it  is  not  doing  it  at  the  present 
time,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  future  will 
witness  any  very  radical  changes  in  our  public 
school  program  of  studies.  The  only  insti- 
tution in  America  today  engaged  in  teaching 
the  Bible  to  the  masses  is  the  Sunday-school. 

4.  Its  Object,  The  object  for  which  the 
Sunday-school  exists  is  threefold  in  its 
nature : 

a.  The  conversion  of  the  pupil. 

b.  The  development  of  Christian  char- 
acter. 

c.  Training  for,  and  enlisting  in,  Chris- 
tian service. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  151 

The  Sunday-school  is  to  attain  this  three- 
fold object  through: 

a.  Religious  instruction  in  general. 

b.  Biblical  study  and  instruction  in  par- 
ticular. 

c.  Adequate  knowledge  of  the  pupil. 

d.  A  knowledge  of  right  principles  in 
teaching. 

e.  Proper  Sunday-school  equipment,  or- 
ganization and  administration. 

Inherent  Weaknesses  in  the  Present  Sunday- 
school  System 

While  the  religious  instruction  of  the  youth 
of  this  country  is  almost  exclusively  in  the 
hands  of  the  Sunday-school,  that  institution 
is  failing  to  qualify  its  own  pupils  to  become 
competent  teachers.  This  failure  grows  out 
of  certain  inherent  weaknesses  in  the  present 
Sunday-school  system.  The  average  Sunday- 
school  devotes  less  than  thirty  minutes  each 
week  to  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  which 
means  but  twenty-four  hours  a  year.  The 
child  who  attends  both  Sunday-school  and 
public  school  receives  twenty-four  hours'  bib- 
lical instruction  in  the  Sunday-school  and  in 
the  public  school  during  but  nine  months  of 


152  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

the  year  receives  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  hours'  instruction  in  arithmetic,  or  five 
times  the  number  of  hours  in  arithmetic  that 
he  receives  in  biblical  instruction.  When  we 
come  to  compare  the  time  spent  in  the  actual 
study  of  these  two  subjects,  the  comparison 
becomes  almost  painful.  What  must  be  the 
conclusion  of  the  child  regarding  the  relative 
importance  of  these  two  subjects?  Will  he 
not  feel  that  his  parents  and  those  who  teach 
him  regard  arithmetic  as  of  far  greater  im- 
portance than  Bible  study?  If  not,  why 
devote  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  hours  to  the  one  and  only  about  twenty- 
four  hours  to  the  other?  To  solve  the  prob- 
lem of  religious  education,  the  church  must 
provide  more  time  for  actual  Bible  study  and 
Bible  teaching. 

Untrained  teachers  are  another  very 
serious  weakness  to  be  found  in  the  American 
Sunday-school.  We  insist  today  on  a  trained 
ministry,  specially  trained  choirs,  and  trained 
missionaries;  to  be  consistent,  why  not  lay 
equal  emphasis  on  a  trained  teaching  force 
for  our  Sunday-school  ?  The  young  man  con- 
templating work  in  the  foreign  field  is  ex- 
pected, yes,  even  required,  to  devote  several 
years    in    preparing    himself    to    teach    the 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  153 

heathen  beyond  the  waters,  and  yet  how  will- 
ing we  are  to  intrust  the  religious  instruction 
of  our  own  boys  and  girls  to  persons  who 
have  made  no  special  preparation  whatever 
for  that  kind  of  work.  Is  one  to  infer  from 
this  attitude  of  both  the  church  and  the  home 
that  we  look  on  the  religious  training  of  the 
heathen  as  of  more  consequence  than  the 
training  of  our  own  American  children?  I 
am  not  criticising  the  work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions; I  am  only  recognizing  our  own  incon- 
sistencies. 

For  years  the  Sunday-school,  through  its 
system  of  uniform  lessons  for  all  departments 
of  the  school,  has  been  trying  to  adapt  the 
child  to  the  lesson  instead  of  seeking  to  adapt 
the  lesson  to  the  child;  it  has  seemed  to  ig- 
nore the  fact  that  the  immature  nature  of  the 
pupil  with  its  limitations  and  its  possibilities, 
and  not  the  lesson  material,  was  the  one  thing 
which  called  the  school  into  existence  and 
made  education  possible.  Too  long  we  have 
been  victims  of  false  educational  methods; 
we  need  never  hope  for  adequate  results  so 
long  as  we  persist  in  employing  inadequate 
methods. 

Poor  and  incomplete  equipment  is  another 
serious    handicap    in    many    Sunday-schools. 


154  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

What  tremendous  protests  would  go  up  from 
the  parents  of  any  community  If  the  public 
school  teacher  should  be  reduced  to  an  equip- 
ment as  inadequate  as  the  equipment  of  the 
Sunday-schools  in  the  same  community. 
They  will  insist  on  the  public  school  teacher 
being  provided  with  the  very  best  equipment 
that  money  can  buy,  and  yet  how  willing  they 
are  that  the  poor  Sunday-school  teacher 
struggle  along  with  nothing  more  helpful 
than  a  three-cent  lesson  quarterly.  Most 
Sunday-schools  are  provided  with  charts 
showing  how  many  heathen  there  are  in 
Africa  without  a  preacher,  but  in  very  few 
of  them  can  one  find  so  much  as  a  map  of 
Palestine  for  teaching  their  own  boys  and 
girls. 

Let  us  Christianize  the  heathen  world  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  in  doing  so  let  us 
spend  a  little  more  time  and  considerably 
more  money  in  looking  after  "the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel." 

The  Hopeful  Outlook 

Properly  trained  teachers,  lesson  material 
adapted  to  the  pupil,  adequate  equipment, 
organization  and  administration  operating  in 
harmonious  combination  will  go  very  far  in 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  155 

overcoming  the  weaknesses  Indicated  above. 
All  these  are  available  and  may  be  had  In  any 
school  In  the  land.  The  outlook  Is  not  dis- 
couraging but  most  hopeful.  The  Sunday- 
school  of  today  Is  50  per  cent  better  than  the 
Sunday-school  of  fifteen  years  ago  and  Is 
steadily  Improving  each  year.  As  an  insti- 
tution It  has  begun  to  recognize  its  own 
defects  and  has  set  itself  the  task  of  correct- 
ing them.  The  marks  of  greatness  In  any 
organization  lie  In  its  ability  to  locate  its  own 
weakness  coupled  with  a  corresponding  abil- 
ity to  correct  that  weakness  when  discovered. 
The  Sunday-school  is  beginning  to  demon- 
strate to  the  world  that  it  possesses  these 
characteristics  of  greatness.  It  has  at  last 
discovered  Its  true  task;  it  is  beginning  to 
realize  that  It  Is  an  educational,  as  well  as 
religious,  Institution  ordained  of  God  for  the 
promulgation  of  religious  truth ;  it  has  found 
its  true  mission  In  the  earth,  and  is  beginning 
to  assume  as  never  before  the  gigantic  re- 
sponsibility of  religious  education  and  bibli- 
cal Instruction.  When  I  stop  to  consider  the 
enormity  of  her  task,  the  material  with  which 
she  has  to  work — Inadequate  equipment,  un- 
trained and  unpaid  teachers,  ungraded  lesson 
material,  voluntary  attendance  on  the  part  of 


156  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

both  pupils  and  teachers,  parental  indiffer- 
ence, together  with  the  counter  attractions  of 
the  world — I  am  really  amazed  with  the 
results  already  accomplished.  It  is  by  all 
odds  the  greatest  department  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  for  it  gives  to  the  church  eighty- 
seven  out  of  every  one  hundred  of  its 
converts. 

When  I  survey  this  field,  with  its  possi- 
bilities, its  opportunities  and  its  responsi- 
bilities, I  am  convinced  beyond  all  question 
that  the  Sunday-school  is  by  far  the  most 
potent  force  for  righteousness  in  America 
today.  What  may  we  expect  in  the  years  to 
come  with  chairs  of  Sunday-school  pedagogy 
in  all  of  our  denominational  seminaries;  when 
our  equipment  becomes  as  perfect  as  that  of 
the  day  school ;  when  the  lesson  material  shall 
be  thoroughly  graded  to  meet  the  growing 
needs  of  child  life ;  when  every  teacher  shall 
be  a  trained  teacher — an  expert  in  his  par- 
ticular department;  and  when  parents  and 
church  members  shall  be  regular  attendants 
at  the  Sunday-school?  The  Sunday-school  is 
saying,  "Give  us  the  equipment,  the  teachers, 
the  money,  and  the  parental  cooperation 
which  you  give  to  the  public  schools  of  this 
country   and   we   will   give   you   results    far 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  157 

superior  to  anything  the  public  school  has 
ever  done.  Give  us  the  means  and  the  raw 
material  and  we  will  return  to  you  the  fin- 
ished product,  'furnished  completely  unto 
every  good  work.'  " 


XVI 

THE  OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  COUN- 
TRY  PASTOR  TO   DIRECT 
SOCIAL    ENTERPRISES 

Chas.  O.  Bemies 

Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
McClellandtown,  Pa. 

The  rural  pastorate  is  a  definite  and 
specialized  calling,  requiring  a  man  in  the  full 
possession  of  all  his  powers  and  the  utmost 
variation  of  manly  and  Christian  faculties, 
in  order  to  meet  the  necessities  of  all  phases 
of  rural  life  with  their  entanglement  of  com- 
plex problems.  There  is  a  seeming  simplicity 
about  rural  life  and  a  country  community, 
but  it  is  in  reality  nearly  as  complex  as  the 
individuals  in  it.  As  a  rule,  the  rural 
churches  have  gone  backward  or  remain 
undeveloped  through  various  causes  not 
necessary  to  mention  here ;  there  has  been  an 
increasing  proportion  of  a  lower  class  of 
people  left  in  the  country,  lower  in  every 


OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  PASTOR  159 

plane  of  life,  a  class  harder  to  reach  through 
their  lack  of  ambition  in  all  directions  and  a 
contented  indifference  to  progress,  presenting 
a  vast  need  and  opportunity  in  inspiring  rural 
life  at  every  point — religious,  social,  intellec- 
tual, economic,  recreative,  political — and  in 
promoting  community  welfare.  The  greatest 
home  missionary  field  in  the  United  States  is 
the  average  country  community.  The  man 
going  into  a  rural  charge  should  regard  it  as 
of  equal  importance  to  a  foreign  mission  field. 
A  young  theological  seminary  man  could  find 
no  better  opportunity  to  develop  all  the  quali- 
ties which  make  up  the  full  rounded  preacher, 
pastor  and  social  service  worker  than  in  the 
country. 

Take  one  line,  for  instance :  the  rural  pas- 
tor's opportunity  to  direct  social  enterprises 
of  the  community  is  without  limit.  He  and 
the  church  ought  to  stand  as  the  greatest 
factor  in  the  real  social  life  of  the  parish;  for, 
literally,  the  Christian  life  is  nothing  if  it  is 
not  social.  The  old  individualistic  idea  of  the 
Christian  life  consisting  chiefly  of  private 
prayer,  Bible  study  and  meditation,  a  selfish 
relationship  to  God,  is  rapidly  disappearing. 
Although  these  private  devotions  are  neces- 
sary, they  are  simply  a  basis  from  which  to 


160  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

express  the  Christ  spirit  in  every  phase  of 
daily  life;  and  without  any  other  manifesta- 
tion than  a  pious  look  he  might  as  well  be 
under  the  mystic  spell  of  Nirvana.  In  view 
of  the  all  too  prevalent  idea  that  the  Church 
ought  not  to  concern  herself  with  anything 
but  the  so-called  spiritual  side  of  a  man's  life, 
it  seems  necessary  to  briefly  outline  the  prin- 
ciples underlying  the  scope  of  the  Church's 
work  in  the  world. 

We  cannot  serve  God  directly,  for  He 
needs  nothing.  He  does  not  suffer  pain, 
hunger  or  homelessness.  The  universe  is 
His  and  all  things  contained  therein.  He  is 
self-sufficient  in  all  things.  Our  private  devo- 
tions are  not  classed  under  service,  as  they 
are  simply  acts  of  worship  and  dependence. 
No  man  can  serve  God  by  segregating  him- 
self from  others  of  his  kind.  Christianity  is 
eminently  a  social  religion  animated  by  the 
spirit  of  the  Master.  The  church  that  is 
only  "spiritual"  is  not  fulfilling  its  mission. 
For  we  are  not  spiritual  beings  yet,  but  a  com- 
bination of  spiritual,  physical,  intellectual; 
with  a  diversity  of  faculties,  appetites, 
impulses,  ambitions;  living  in  the  midst  of 
conflicting  environment  in  our  imperfect 
world  of  economics,  business,  production,  dis- 


OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  PASTOR  161 

tribution,  politics,  government,  education, 
morals,  living  and  working  conditions.  Into 
this  pot-pourri  of  our  mixed  natures  and 
complex  surroundings  the  essence  of  Christ 
must  be  cast  and  thoroughly  stirred,  until  all 
the  relations  of  life,  private  and  public,  are 
permeated  with  the  same  spirit.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  saving  a  man's  spiritual  nature 
in  this  world  apart  from  his  many  phased 
nature.  The  whole  man  is  saved  or  not  at 
all.  Old  things  have  passed  away,  all  things 
have  become  new.  The  church  which  does 
not  project  her  direct  influence  into  her  many- 
sided  community  life  may  be  said  to  have  no 
influence,  and  therefore  to  be  ignorant  or 
unmindful  of  her  great  mission  to  gradually 
transform  this  earth  and  all  its  contents  into 
a  smoothly  running,  equitably  prosperous, 
righteously  governed  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
with  the  living  spirit  of  Christ  as  the  animat- 
ing and  powerfully  leavening  principle.  The 
Church,  which  is  the  body  of  true  believers, 
serves  God  only  by  serving  others  and  by 
building  up  this  Kingdom. 

To  come  to  a  concrete  locality,  and  to  take 
one  phase  of  social  service,  which  is  a  broad 
term,  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  answering 
the  question,  "What  can  a  country  pastor  do 


162  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

to  spiritualize  what  is  commonly  called  the 
social  life  of  his  community?"  For  no  church 
is  a  power  unless  she  is  social.  In  the  first 
place,  he  is  directly  responsible  to  God  for  the 
character  of  the  social  life  of  his  parish,  for 
it  is  a  part  of  his  business  to  put  Into  opera- 
tion ways  and  means  to  develop  it  towards 
the  highest  ideal ;  to  produce  a  hearty  whole- 
someness  in  every  department  of  church  and 
community  life.  Furthermore,  he  has  the 
natural  opportunity  to  direct  social  enter- 
prises, as  the  very  heart  of  the  gospel  is 
essentially  social,  and  the  people  expect  and 
demand  that  the  church  atmosphere  shall  be 
cordial,  as  also  that  the  parish  social  life 
shall  be  uplifted.  It  is  not  always  necessary 
for  the  pastor  to  make  a  flying  leap  every 
Sunday  from  the  pulpit  to  the  front  door 
after  the  benediction  to  shake  hands  with 
every  one  before  the  man  In  the  back  seat  can 
get  to  the  door.  It  means  vastly  more  that 
he  should  be  hearty  in  his  manner  in  the 
pulpit,  speaking  to  the  people  and  not  at  or 
over  them.  That  self-important  ministerial 
dignity  which  some  preachers  assume  fools 
no  one  and  is  a  positive  barrier  between  the 
pulpit  and  the  heart  In  the  pew.  Direct  per- 
sonal address  establishes   a  bond  of  unity. 


OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  PASTOR  163 

His  presence  among  his  people,  before  and 
after  service  or  at  any  church  gathering, 
should  radiate  a  sincere  cordiality.  All  fawn- 
ing effusiveness,  a  condescending  unbending 
and  the  "chessie  cat"  grin  or  the  "seraphic" 
smile,  are  abominations  in  the  minds  of  the 
people.  He  must  be  at  heart  a  real  lover  of 
his  kind  without  partiality.  If  he  is  not  this 
he  ought  to  get  out  of  the  country  ministry  or 
get  converted  all  over.  Just  as  soon  as  a 
pastor  quits  being  selfishly  minded  he  can 
become  social.  He  must  by  various  persistent 
means  develop  his  people  into  hearty  friend- 
liness with  each  other  and  with  strangers 
while  in  the  church  on  any  occasion.  The 
social  feeling  and  atmosphere  is  a  necessity 
to  successful  church  work  on  any  and  all  lines. 
His  Sunday-school  officers,  teachers  and 
scholars  must  have  the  cheerful  earnestness 
which  is  attractive  to  all  ages  if  it  is  to  pros- 
per. The  pastor  is  primarily  responsible  for 
the  growth  of  this  atmosphere,  and  if  it  is 
lacking  there  is  something  wrong  with  him, 
either  with  his  heart  or  his  methods  or  both. 
Everybody  will  finally  melt  down  and 
together  under  a  persistent  social  pastor. 
The  young  people's  society  and  every  organi- 


164  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

zation  of  the  church  must  be  saturated  with  a 
satisfying  fellowship. 

In  the  pastor's  visits  to  the  homes  he 
should  have  that  genuine  feeling  of  good  will 
to  all,  from  the  baby  to  the  grandmother, 
which  makes  the  people  say,  "He  seems  like 
one  of  the  family  and  we're  all  glad  to  see 
him  come  at  any  time."  He  ought  to  talk 
interestingly  with  the  men  and  women  on  all 
subjects  and  ought  to  sit  or  stand  around  with 
the  men,  in  moderation,  at  the  store,  post 
office,  blacksmith  shop,  public  sales  or  picnics, 
and  enter  into  familiar  conversation  with 
them  on  any  subject  from  politics  to  hogs. 
He  can  develop  by  various  means  that  old- 
time  neighborliness  between  the  people  in 
sickness  and  in  health.  One  helpful  way  is 
for  the  different  committees  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  young  people's  society,  ladies'  aid  and 
missionary  society  or  other  organizations  to 
meet  around  at  the  different  homes.  Choir 
meeting  or  singing  school  is  a  splendid  social 
means,  as  is  also  the  literary  society,  the 
rightly  conducted  play  party,  other  socials, 
dinners,  festivals,  home  talent  plays  and  con- 
certs and  the  general  observance  of  the  regu- 
lar and  the  special  days  of  the  year. 

The  opportunities  of  the  country  pastor  to 


OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  PASTOR  165 

direct     social     enterprises     are  legion  and 
teeming  with  life  at  every  point. 

The  preacher  is  naturally  an  inventor,  as 
it  is  a  most  important  part  of  his  mental 
equipment  for  sermon  work,  and  any  minister 
who  pretends  to  be  alive  can  easily  apply  or 
invent  the  methods  by  which  he  can  develop 
the  people  into  a  hearty  unit  of  cordial 
friendship,  with  the  church  as  its  center,  and 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  as  its  healthy  life. 

Note. — As  the  result  of  the  work  of  the  com- 
mission, some  resolutions  were  deemed  timely  to 
crystallize  the  general  expression  of  this  commission 
which  are  herewith  submitted. 


RESOLUTIONS 

1.  We  recommend  that  the  subject  of 
Rural  Life  be  adequately  presented  at  the 
summer  conferences  and  at  state  and  county 
conventions  at  other  seasons  of  the  year; 

2.  That  courses  In  Rural  Leadership  be 
adopted  as  part  of  our  Bible  study  program; 

3.  That  colleges,  theological  seminaries, 
colleges  of  agriculture  and  normal  schools 
provide  courses  on  Rural  Life  in  their 
curricula ; 

4.  That  publishers  of  Sunday-school 
literature  be  requested  to  make  special  pro- 
vision for  the  needs  of  rural  life; 

5.  That  churches  and  other  religious 
organizations  be  urged  to  give  attention  to 
the  teaching  of  choral  music  through  the  use 
of  religious  hymns  and  forms  of  martial 
music  in  rural  communities. 

Signed, 

T.  N.  Carver, 
Edwin  L.  Earp, 

M.   A.   HONLINE, 

Charles  O.  Bemies, 
D.  C.  Drew, 
Henry  Israel. 


DELEGATES  TO  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 
CONFERENCE,  NOVEMBER  14,  1912 


BALDWIN,   B.   J.     Columbia   University. 
BOARDMAN,  JOHN  R.     Good  Will  Home  Association. 
BRAUCHER,    H.     S.     Secretary    Playground    and     Recreation 

Association  of  America. 
BUCHMAN,    FRANK    N.    D.       .  Pennsylvania    State    College 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
CARVER,    DR.    T.    N.     Department    of    Economics,    Harvard 

University. 
COPELAND,     C.     M.       Territorial     Committee,     Ontario     and 


Quebec. 


DILLARD,   DR.   JAMES   H.     Russell  Sage   Foundation. 

DOLE,  ARTHUR  A.     Business  America. 

DYKEMA,  PETER  W.     Ethical  Culture  School. 

FELTON,  RALPH  A.  Department  of  Church  and  Country 
Life,  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions. 

GILBERT,  J.   L.     Business  America. 

GOODMAN,  FRED  S.  Religious  Work  Department,  Inter- 
national Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions. 

GRANGER,  DR.  W.  A.  President,  Baptist  Missionary  Con- 
vention of  the  State  of  New  York. 

HANMER,  LEE  F.  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  Division  of 
Recreation. 

HAYS,  HON.  W.  M.     United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

HERRING,  REV.  HUBERT  C,  D.  D.  Congregational  Home 
Missionary  Society. 

HONLINE,  DR.  M.  A.  Religious  Work  Department,  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

HOWARD,  JOHN  R.,  JR.  General  Secretary,  Thomas  Thomp- 
son Trust. 

JOHNSON.  PROF.  WM.  H.     Lincoln  University. 

LANGDON,  WILLIAM  C.  Russell  Sage  Foundation.  Writer 
and  Student  of  Pedagogy. 

LATSHAW,  DAVID  G.  Community  Extension  Department, 
International   Committee.  ■■■■» 

McALPINE,  REV.  CHARLES  A.  Baptist  Missionary  Con- 
vention of  the  State  of  New  York. 

MANN,  PROF.  A.,  R.  Secretary,  Registrar  and  Professor  of 
Agricultural  Editing,  Cornell  University. 

MARLING,  ALFRED  E.  Chairman  of  the  International  Com- 
mittee. 

MONAHAN,  HON.  ARTHUR  C.  Department  of  the  Interior, 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 

MORGAN,  E.  L.  Community  Field  Agent,  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College. 

MORSE,  H.  N.  Department  of  Church  and  Country  Life, 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions. 

MORSE,  RICHARD  C.  General  Secretary  of  the  International 
Committee. 

MUNN,  DR.  JOHN  F.     Member  of  the  International  Committee. 

NATSCH,  HENRY. 

PAYNE,  BRUCE  R.     George  Peabody  College  for  Teachers. 

RICE,  DR.  EDWIN  WILBUR.  American  Sunday  School 
Union. 


168  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

ROSE,  WICKLIFFE.  Rockefeller  Sanitary  Commission, 
Southern  Education  Board  and  the  Peabody  Education 
Fund. 

SANFORD,  DR.  E.  B.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Federal 
Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 

SETTLE,  T.  S.     State  Board  of  Education  of  Virginia. 

STEINER,  IVAN.     Chilmark  Farm,  Ossining,  N.  Y. 

STONE,  HON.  MASON  S.  State  Superintendent  of  Educa- 
tion, Vermont.  ,  „.        . 

TAFT,  MISS  ANNA  B.  Assistant  Department  of  Church  and 
Country  Life  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions. 

WELLS,  REV.  G.  FREDERICK.  Pastor  of  the  Federated 
Church,  Tyringham,  Mass. 

WESTERVELT,  FRANK.  Reformed  Church  Sunday  School, 
Spring  Valley,  N.  Y.  .        .         .     .         , 

WHEELER,  R.  W.     Playground  and  Recreation  Association  of 


America. 


Theological  Seminaries 


BERG,  PROF.  J.  FREDERIC.  Theological  Seminary  of 
Reformed  Church. 

BOYNTON,  DR.  C.  H.  Professor  of  Homiletics  and  Peda- 
gogy, General  Theological  Seminary. 

EARP,  PROF.  EDWIN  L.,  Ph.  D.  Director  Drew  Theological 
Seminary,  Department  of  Sociology. 

GEER,  PROF.  CURTIS  M.,  Ph.  D.  Professor  Hartford  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  _ 

FISKE,  DR.  G.  WALTER.  Junior  Dean  of  Oberlm  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

FISMER,  A.  W.,  Ph.  D.  Professor  of  Practical  Theology, 
German  Theological  Seminary.  _    . 

GESNER,  PROF.  ANTON  T.  Professor  Berkeley  Divinity 
School. 

GREENE,  PROF.  WALTER  L.  Professor  Alfred  Theological 
Seminary. 

HORR,   DR.    GEORGE   E.     Newton  Theological   Institution. 

LEWIS,  DR.   FRANK  G.     Crozer  Theological  Seminary. 

MERRIAM,  PROF.  ALEXANDER  R.  Dean,  Hartford  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

RAU,   DR.   ALBERT  G.     Moravian  Theological   Seminary. 

ROCKWELL,  PROF.  WILLIAM  W.  Union  Theological 
Seminary.  .  „  .      , 

SNEATH,  PROF.  E.  HERSHEY.     Yale  Divinity  School. 

STARRATT,  PROF.  FRANK  A.,  D.  D.  Colgate  Theological 
Seminary.  _  .     , 

WASHBURN,  PROF.  HENRY  B.  Episcopal  Theological 
School.  .   ,        „  ,      , 

WOOD,  JOHN  A.     Bible  Teachers  Training  School. 

Rural  Pastors 

AUGUSTINE,  REV.  R.  H.  M.  Pastor  Hanover,  N.  J.,  Pres- 
byterian Church.  ^, 

BEMIES,  REV.  CHARLES  O.  Presbyterian  Church,  Mc- 
Clelland town.  Pa.  ..       _   . 

BRAUNSTEIN,  REV.  RICHARD.  Ashland  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  Ashland,  N.  Y. 

BROCK,  REV.  T.  S.     Burlington,  N.  J.    ^ 

CHAPMAN,  EDWARD  M.     Old  Lyme,  Conn. 


DELEGATES  TO  THE  CONFERENCE         169 

DUMONT,  REV.  AND  MRS.  W.  A.     West  Coxsackie,  N.  Y. 

GILL,  C.   O.     Hartland,  Vermont. 

HARRIS,  REV.  FRANK  B.  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Delphi,  N.  Y. 

LOOLOIAN,  REV.  M.  H.  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Tan- 
nersville,   N.    Y. 

LYALL,  REV.  J.  E.  Millbrook  Reformed  Church,  South  Mill- 
brook,  N.  Y. 

PARKER,  C.  A.     Hampton  Falls,  N.  H. 

TAYLOR,  ^  CHARLES  F.  Second  Congregational  Church, 
Greenwich,   Conn. 

WYCKOFF,  REV.  A.  C.  Reformed  Church,  Spring  Valley, 
N.  Y. 

County  Work  Delegates 

BAXLEY,  W.  H.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Westchester  County,  N.  Y. 

BROWN,  JOHN,  JR.,  M.  D.  County  Work  Secretary,  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

CAMPBELL,  W.  J.  State  County  Work  Secretary  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

CONVERSE,  H.  B.  Assistant  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Greene  County,  N.  Y. 

DAVIES,  W.  EDWARD.  _  Assistant  County  Secretary,  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  Windsor  County,  Vt. 

DREW,  D.  C.     State  County  Work  Secretary  of  Massachusetts. 

FREEMAN,  F.  B.  State  County  Work  Secretary  of  New 
Hampshire. 

GOLD,  GUY  D. 

HATFIELD,  C.  C.  County  Work  Secretary,  International 
Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

HILL,  F.  M.     State  County  Work  Secretary  of  New  York. 

HURD,  ARCHIBALD  C.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Windsor  County,  Vt. 

ISRAEL,  HENRY.  County  Work  Secretary^  International 
Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

JORDAN,  E.  K.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y. 

JUDD,  E.  TAYLOR.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association,  Monmouth  County,  N.  J. 

MAYDOLE,  H.  D.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  Camden  County,  N.  J. 

MORAN,  J.  S. 

PIPHER,  C.  H.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y. 

READ,  OTIS  B.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Burlington  County,  N.  J. 

ROBERTS,  ALBERT  E.  County  Work  Secretary,  Inter- 
national Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

SHAPLEIGH,  F.   E. 

SMITH,  HARRY  HEDLEY.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Gloucester  County,  N.  J. 

STONE,  CARLOS  H.  Member  of  Orange  County,  N.  Y., 
Committee. 

VAN  VALKENBURGH,  CYRUS  W.  Member  of  Greene 
County,  N.  Y.,  Committee. 

WILCOX,  F.  B.    Member  of  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  Committee. 

WILCOX^  Z.  L.  County  Secretary,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Orange  County,  N.  Y. 


170  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 


Young  Women's  Christian  Association 

ALLEN,    MISS    MARY    LOUISE.     Editor    The    Association 

Monthly. 
CHAPPEL,  MISS  NEVA.     Secretary,  N.  E.  Field  Committee, 

National  Board. 
HOLMQUIST,      MISS      LOUISE.        Department      Executive, 

National  Board. 
ROELOFS,      MISS      HENRIETTA.        Executive      Secretary, 

National    Board. 
SEABURG,   MISS  ANNA.     Office  Executive,   National   Board. 

State   Young   Men's   Christian  Association 
Secretaries 

CLARK,     BYRON     N.     State     County     Work     Secretary     of 

Vermont. 
COBURN,    CHARLES    A.     State    County    Work    Secretary    of 

New  Jersey. 
HEARNE,    EDWARD    W.      Representing    State    Secretary    of 

Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 
Renewals  may  be  made  4  dafs  prior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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